With their ‘backs against the wall,’ Capitals seize the moment in Seattle

Washington did just that, and it worked as Carbery had hoped. Buoyed by a breakaway goal from center Connor McMichael with just over eight minutes left in the third period, the Capitals emerged with a 2-1 win over the Kraken to halt a two-game skid.

“You could feel it today in the meetings and in the meal room pregame that guys knew what was at stake tonight, with our backs against the wall as we’re running out of runway,” Carbery said. “We knew we needed to have a massive from our entire group, and that’s what they delivered.”

Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 23 saves for Washington. Joey Daccord stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced for Seattle.

The Kraken were idle Wednesday while the Capitals played the Oilers, but the plodding, low-energy nature of the first period left the impression that both teams were playing on short rest. That worked in Washington’s favor, as it was able to settle into the game through the opening 20 minutes — without getting put into an early hole by a rested team.

In the second period, though, the Capitals found their footing. They outshot the Kraken, 11-4, in the middle frame and, according to advanced statistics website Natural Stat Trick, recorded six high-danger scoring chances while allowing none to Seattle.

“Inspiring effort by our guys tonight,” Lindgren said. “I thought we played extremely hard and did all the right things, especially in that second period. Second period might’ve been our best period of the year, I thought. I mean, we were all over them, and then we found a way to gut it out.”

But the only time Washington was able to beat Daccord in the period, despite their dominance in puck possession and scoring chances, came via a gift by the netminder. While aiming to clear the puck up the ice on the power play, Daccord instead banked the puck back toward the net, off the leg of winger T.J. Oshie — and then poked it across his own goal line as he made a desperate attempt to salvage his gaffe.

Only scoring once while being in such firm control of the flow of play left Washington vulnerable in the third period, and the Kraken took advantage with a power-play goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand to knot the game with 16:28 left to play.

The Capitals’ coaching staff studied the goal on the monitors behind the bench as though they were considering possible goaltender interference, but a failed challenge would have put Seattle back on the power play, and Washington elected to stand pat.

McMichael was sprung on a breakaway by a turnover from former Capital Andre Burakovsky with just over eight minutes left, and he made no mistake as he fired a backhander through Daccord’s pads to put the Capitals back in front. While it was McMichael’s first goal against the Kraken, it was not his first goal against Daccord; he scored in Games 6 and 7 of the Calder Cup final with the Hershey Bears against Daccord and the Coachella Valley Firebirds last summer.

“I’m pretty familiar with him, obviously, from last year,” McMichael said. “I know he plays pretty aggressive to the shooter and he likes to challenge, so I just wanted to throw a little fake shot in and beat him to that post.”

Washington had to hang on tight after McMichael’s tally, including a goal-line clearance by defenseman Martin Fehervary with under a minute remaining, but the Capitals were able to do just enough to take the win.

“Really proud of the entire group,” Carbery said. “As difficult of circumstances as you’ll find in this league from a back-to-back standpoint. … For us to play the game that we did in Seattle’s building against a good hockey team that was rested, just full commitment. Every single guy doing the exact things that we talked about from a details standpoint and competitiveness standpoint. It was impressive to watch.”

Daccord’s gift to Oshie wasn’t the only gift Washington got Thursday night. After the Detroit Red Wings, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffalo Sabres all lost, the Capitals are now just one point out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. As ever, the path remains difficult, and the math is unfavorable.

But after a much-needed win in Seattle, the Capitals still have a chance, and they’ll take it — just like they took the bounce on Oshie’s goal.

“It’s going to be a grind. We’ve got to keep battling,” Oshie said. “For these teams around this bubble right now, this is our playoff time, just to get a chance to go to the postseason. Big two points tonight, feel good about it, but we’ve got to regroup. We’ve got a monster in [Vancouver on Saturday]. We’ve got to find another way to get two points.”