The Capitals get off to a 2 game start with a 7-3 win over the Flames

WASHINGTON (AP) — Connor McMichael scored two goals and the Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames 7-3 on Monday night.

Hendrix Lapierre and Justin Sourdif each had a goal and an assist, and Tom Wilson, Ethen Frank and Ryan Leonard also scored for the Capitals, who ended a two-game skid.

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Matvei Gridin, Blake Coleman and Yegor Sharangovich scored for Calgary, which has lost five of its last six games.

Washington jumped out to a 3-0 lead in a dominant first period. Just 2:46 into the game, Lapierre, playing the fourth-line center role with new signing David Kampf still dealing with immigration, scored off a rebound from Martin Fehervary to open the scoring. After more sustained pressure in the opening frame, Wilson sent a bouncing puck past Devin Cooley before McMichael scored from the slot, ending a seven-game personal scoring drought.

The Flames rallied and tied the game with a three-goal second period.

Gridin converted a backdoor feed from Olli Maatta past a sliding tackle from Logan Thompson to put Calgary up 3-1. Ryan Strome, tackling his brother Dylan, had an assist in the game and has three points in two games since his trade with the Flames.

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The Flames scored consecutive short-handed goals in a span of 1:16 after Washington turnovers. Coleman scored on the counterattack before Joel Farabee fed Sharangovich the equalizer.

But the third period belonged to Washington.

McMichael scored on a rebound to restore the lead for the Capitals. Twenty-three seconds later, Justin Sourdif’s shot bounced past Cooley and Ethen Frank iced the game late with an empty-netter.

With 15.6 seconds left in regulation, Leonard broke away and scored past Cooley to extend his scoring streak to three games.

Thompson stopped 22 of 25 shots in the win. Cooley made 22 saves.

Next

Capitals: Wednesday at Philadelphia.

Flames: at New York Rangers on Tuesday.

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APNHL: https://apnews.com/NHL