The Washington Capitals and Calgary Flames hit the ice at Capital One Arena tonight to wrap up their season series. The Caps got the better of the Flames in Alberta back in January with a 3-1 win, but both teams now look a little different after last week’s trade deadline. Speaking of looking different, Coach Carbery rolled out some new forward lines for tonight:
Washington’s new guys were still missing from the lineup. Coach Carbery reportedly wants to give Timothy Liljegren a bit more time to adjust to the new system before slotting him into the lineup, and David Kampf is apparently having some visa issues. Would Carbery’s line changes be enough to spur the Capitals to victory? Spoiler: yes, and the Caps came away with a massive 7-3 win.
Plus: Slow starts have doomed the Capitals this season, so tonight was a pleasant surprise. They came out hot, getting on the board less than three minutes in courtesy of Hendrix Lapierre and then scoring twice more to take a 3-0 lead into first intermission.
Minus: If the first period was all Caps, the second was…very much not. They were on their heels for most of the period, and it all came to a head in the final five minutes of the frame. The Flames got their scoring started at 5-on-5 at 16:08, but then they scored twice on the same power play…no, not their power play, Washington’s power play. Yes, you read that right, the Flames scored two shorthanded goals on the same penalty kill. Washington’s stellar first period was essentially erased in a matter of minutes, so it would all come down to the final 20 minutes.
Caps Player of the Game: Alexa, play “Let It Rock”! Tonight’s honor goes to Connor McMichael, who had a two-goal game and hit the ten-goal mark on the season with his second tally tonight. That second goal was also on the power play, which was a positive sign for both him and the team’s power play unit—especially after the brutal showing in the second period.