McMichael scores twice, Capitals recover to pull away from Flames

WASHINGTON -- Connor McMichael broke a third period tie with his second goal of the night, and the Washington Capitals recovered to pull away from the Calgary Flames, 7-3, after giving up a three-goal second period lead at Capital One Arena on Monday.

McMichael gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead at 10:52 when he got a loose puck during a scramble in front and scored over Calgary goalie Devin Cooley’s right shoulder during a power play.

“Yeah, it just popped right out, right on my tape and I just ripped it, and thankfully went in,” McMichael said.

Justin Sourdif had a goal and two assists, Hendrix Lapierre had a goal and an assist, and Logan Thompson made 23 saves for the Capitals (32-26-7), who had lost three straight.

“It's a resilient group,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “Even though we've had our struggles and our moments through the year that haven't gone as planned, you still can't question the character of our group as a whole. They genuinely want to do the right things, and care and play hard and compete.”

Matvei Gridin, Blake Coleman and Yegor Sharangovich each scored, and Cooley made 22 saves for the Flames (25-31-7), who have lost five of six (1-4-1).

“Put ourselves in a hole early,” Coleman said. “Proud of the way we fought back. It was a tough third. … I thought our team showed a lot of grit fighting back in the game. Just didn’t find a way to complete it.”

Lapierre gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 2:46 of the first period. Cooley made a kick save on Martin Fehervary’s shot from the left point, but Lapierre knocked in the rebound from the edge of the right circle.

Tom Wilson made it 2-0 at 9:13. Jakob Chychrun’s point shot deflected off of teammates Aliaksei Protas and Dylan Strome in front to Wilson, who went top shelf from a sharp angle below the left circle.

McMichael increased the lead to 3-0 at 17:43 when he took a pass from Sourdif along the boards and beat Cooley with a snap shot from the slot.

“I kind of knew [we] were going to be changing and I had to bring it deep,” Sourdif said. “I knew there's going to be guys coming off the bench, and they kind of closed in on me. And [McMichael] was coming down the slot off the bench and was able to find him.”

Calgary scored three goals in 2:47 to tie the game 3-3 in the second period.

Gridin pulled the Flames within 3-1 at 16:08 when he received a pass across the slot from Olli Maatta and then shot over a sprawling Thompson from the right circle.

Coleman made it 3-2 with the first of two short-handed goals by Calgary at 17:39. Mikael Backlund intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and passed up the ice to Coleman for the breakaway snap shot.

“We did some good things,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “We put them under pressure and we made it hard on them. We did a lot of checking up the ice, which is something we’re going to have to keep doing.”

Just 1:16 later, Sharangovich netted the Flames' second short-handed goal to tie it 3-3 at 18:55. Joel Farabee got to Chychrun’s errant drop pass at the blue line, skated deep into the zone and fed Sharangovich, who scored on a snap shot from the low slot.

Sourdif made it 5-3 at 11:15, 23 seconds after McMichael's go-ahead goal, getting a snap shot from the right dot past Cooley thanks to a deflection off of Flames defenseman Kevin Bahl in front.

“It felt like every single period was the complete opposite from the last,” McMichael said, “and we weren't happy with how the second went, as you can tell, and I think it motivated us to come out in the third and dominate.”

Ethen Frank scored into an empty net at 17:14, and Ryan Leonard added a backhanded breakaway goal past Cooley's left pad for the 7-3 final at 19:44.

“We let one slip away where I thought we did a great job of battling back, and in those ones, you want to find a way to win,” Huska said. “Whether it’s more discipline with the stick or finding a way to get the kill at that time in the third period or pushing back after they get it. We weren’t able to do that tonight.”

NOTES: Lapierre has one goal in each of the three career games he’s played against Calgary. … The Flames scored two short-handed goals in a span of 1:16, the sixth-fastest short-handed goals scored in succession in franchise history. … Calgary forward Victor Olofsson, acquired in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche on Friday, played 15:43 and was minus-1 in his Flames debut.