Flooding the Flames with a lot of firepower: Capitals beat Flames 7-3

The Washington Capitals were back on home ice, hosting the Calgary Flames on Monday night. After a tough loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday, the Caps were looking to get back on track against one of the NHL’s worst teams this season.

Hendrix Lapierre opened the scoring with a rebound tally. Tom Wilson extended the Capitals’ lead with a tough-angle snipe from almost below the red line. Connor McMichael tripled up for the Caps in the first period with a snap shot from the slot. The Flames responded with three unanswered goals in the second, the first from rookie forward Matvei Gridin. Blake Coleman and Yegor Sharangovich then both struck shorthanded on the same Capitals power play.

McMichael and Justin Sourdif scored twice within 23 seconds in the third period to put the Capitals back up two goals. Ethen Frank potted an empty-netter to give the game its third set of three unanswered goals. Ryan Leonard ended a frustrating personal night with a beautiful breakaway move.

Capitals beat Flames 7-3!

• The Capitals were the better team throughout the entirety of the first period, giving their goaltender some major run support early in a game for what feels like the first time since last season. In all seriousness, a great start from the Caps, where they looked fast, controlled the neutral zone going both ways, and finished their chances. The major caveat is that the Flames are very bad, and the Capitals haven’t seemed able to do any of that consistently against good teams since, like, the beginning of December.
• Hendrix Lapierre must despise Calgary as he now has three goals in three career games against the Flames. He not only put that puck away but also looked incredibly confident in the offensive zone overall and was using his speed to create chances. Unfortunately, he’s probably headed right back to the press box once David Kampf sorts out his immigration issues.
• In other potential upcoming lineup news, if you missed it pregame, the Capitals may be joined by top prospect Cole Hutson as soon as this week. If Hutson’s BU Terriers lose their Hockey East tournament game against Vermont on Wednesday, the very talented offensive blueliner could be in Caps colors the next day.

• So, remember all of that stuff I said in the first bullet? Go ahead and throw all of that out in the garbage. The Capitals completely fell apart in the second period, allowing the Flames to score three goals and tie the game. And, there could have been more. They were that bad.
• The period was capped off by the Flames scoring two shorthanded goals on the same Caps power play. Washington has now given up nine shorthanded goals this season, which is tied for the second most in the NHL. Folks, what else is there left to write about this team’s power play? It needs to be completely torn down and restructured with new ideas over the summer.
• Tom Wilson left the team’s bench for part of the second period after taking a puck to the no-go zone. He walked it off and was back soon after, but Owwww.
• The Capitals got booed off the ice once the horn sounded for the second intermission. Can’t say I remember the last time that happened. And, it was completely deserved.

• Much, much better in the third, but that also just makes that horrific second period even more strange. What in the world was going on there?
• Connor McMichael put two away to finally give him 10 goals this season. He has been incredibly snakebit this year. The first goal came while the Capitals were on a power play, with Aliaksei Protas on the ice. Hopefully, we see a lot more of Protas with the team up a man. It has never made much sense that he never sees any power-play ice time.
• Justin Sourdif got some puck luck to score his 13th goal of the season. He has scored the third most goals in the NHL this season by a player with a cap hit of $1 million or less that is not on an entry-level contract. This felt like his best game in a good while.

The Capitals will be back in action next against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday. The game is the first half of a road back-to-back.