Capitals vs. Flames Recap: Caps Crap Out in Cowtown

Dec 4, 2022 - 5:41 AM

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After an overtime loss in Vancouver the Capitals came to Calgary looking for success on the road. Instead they got pounded by the locals, falling 5 to 2 in Alberta.

Here’s Saturday night’s Plus/Minus:

• Plus: Alex Ovechkin skated in his 1,300th career contest. He has played in 96.5% of Washington’s matches (1,347) since being drafted eighteen years ago.
• Minus: Both Martin Fehérváry (9:39 TOI) and Darcy Kuemper (36:09) left the game early with apparent injuries.

More notes on the game:

• With less than two minutes in the first frame Blake Coleman beat Kuemper to put the Flames ahead. His hard wrist shot from the faceoff circle bounced off the far post and in.
• 83 seconds later Conor Sheary knotted the score at one apiece. Sheary’s goal was eerily similar to Coleman’s, tallying with the same shot from the same place.
• Kuemper (13 saves) and Dan Vladar (14) were excellent several times throughout the game’s opening twenty minutes.
• Early in the second Andrew Mangiapane gave Calgary the lead again with a third lethal left handed shot from the slot.
• Calgary hushed the Capitals’ offense in the middle frame, holding the visitors to only five shots on goal.
• The Flames extended their lead to two with Adam Ruzicka’s goal at 53:59. Taking the puck in alone on a breakaway Ruzicka put the puck right past Charlie Lingren’s glove.
• Less than a minute later Mangiapane put the game out of reach with his second of the night.
• Late game goals from John Carlson and Elias Lindholm completed the scoring.
• Lindgren made seven saves (.778 S%) in relief of Kuemper.
• Alexander Alexeyev was given a sweater for the second time this season. With Fehérváry likely out with injury expect to see more of Alexeyev this month.