John Carlson's clutch goal sweeps Kings and ends skid
It got scary for a bit but the Washington Capitals two game losing streak is over thanks to a John Carlson game winner with under a minute left to dethrone the Los Angeles Kings.
The Washington Capitals overcame a 2-1 second period and a 3-2 third deficit with two big goals. The first two came from Dylan Strome and Nicolas Aube-Kubel to tie it while the game winner came in the McNugget Minute from John Carlson to send the sellout crowd who preferred hockey to Sunday football home happy. 4-3 final.
Nobody scored in the first period as the Caps led in shots 12-11. Nic Dowd put the Caps on the board first with his second goal in as many games and his sixth of the season. Nicolas Aube-Kubel and John Carlson assisted and it came at 4:22.
At 7:12 Adrian Kempe tied it with a power play goal. The Kings took their first lead of the game with a goal from Kevin Fiala at 13:02. Dylan Strome knotted the score at 15:35 with his team leading 15th goal of the season. Alex Ovechkin and Max Pacioretty had the assists.
2-2 was the score after two with the Kings leading in shots 18-11. In the third the Kings led in shots 12-11 and overall led 41-34.
Fiala added his second goal of the game 61 seconds into the third period to give the Kings a 3-2 lead. Aube-Kubel tied it as Dowd set him up at 8:36 to the delight of Alex Ovechkin's son Sergei.
Carlson's game winner game on a wrist shot up top as the puck bounced in through the air through a crowd of guys. Beck Malenstyn and NAK had the assists. Darcy Kuemper finished with 38 saves to pick up his 10th win of the season.
With the victory the Caps are third in the wild card with an imroved record of 19-13-6 and 44 points. The second place New Jersey Devils also have 44. No Caps games unitl Thursday then it's Chia Milano night.