Capitals sweep back to back with win over Blackhawks

The Washington Capitals took care of business over the weekend. After defeating the first place New York Rangers on home ice Saturday the Capitals took on the Chicago Blackhawks in the Windy City. They came out of there with a 4-2 win.

The wins catapulted the Caps to third place in the Metropolitan Division with a 14-8-3 record and 31 points. Blackhawks drop to 9-17-1 for 19 points as they’re last in the Pacific Division.

Nic Dowd had two goals while Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves on 34 shots in Sunday’s win. Saturday Charlie Lindgren had a 31 save shutout.

The first period was scoreless as the Caps were outshot 10-9. The Blackhawks struck first at 6:49 in the second period with a goal from Philipp Kurashev.

Anthony Mantha got things started for the Caps at 8:11 with his seventh goal of the season which came off an assist from Connor McMichael. Dylan Strome put the Caps ahead at 13:50 with assists coming from Joel Edmundson and Alex Ovechkin. It was his team leading 11th goal of the season.

Dowd’s first of two on the night came at 15:23 as Beck Malenstyn and Nick Jensen had the assists. He got his second of the game at 15:58 to make it 4-1. Nicolas Aube Kubel and Malenstyn had the helpers.

At 18:18 the Blackhawks got to within two with a goal from Connor Murphy. The Blackhawks led in shots 12-7 in the second period, 12-11 in the third period and overall 34-27.

Caps coach Spencer Carbery praised Kuemper for his effort in net:

"“In those first two periods, he was outstanding. I felt he made 4 or 5 massive saves to let us get back in the fight. That’s a huge start for him.”"

The Caps don’t have a game until Thursday when they’re at the Philadelphia Flyers at 7 p.m. On Saturday they go to Nashville to face the Predators. The next night they take on the Carolina Hurricanes.