John Carlson's big night helps Caps defeat Senators

Field Level Media|published: Mon 26th February, 22:09 2024

Feb 26, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Beck Malenstyn (47) skates with the puck as Ottawa Senators left wing Parker Kelly (27) chases in the first period at Capital One Arena. credits: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Washington defenseman John Carlson scored on his multi-milestone night and Hendrix Lapierre recorded his first two-goal game as the Capitals beat the visiting Ottawa Senators 6-3 on Monday night.

On a night when Carlson set the Capitals franchise mark with 984 games played by a defenseman, he also moved into second place on the club's career goals list for defensemen with his 145th during Washington's four-goal first period.

Meanwhile, Lapierre, just recalled from AHL Hershey and with two goals in 25 games earlier this season, scored twice in the second period to help Washington improve to 4-0-1 in its last five games. Aliaksei Protas had a goal and two assists, while Beck Malenstyn had one of each. The Capitals matched their highest scoring game of the season.

Meanwhile, Shane Pinto and Brady Tkachuk each posted a goal with two assists and Drake Batherson also scored for Ottawa, which entered on a 3-0-1 spurt. The Senators' Anton Forsberg was pulled after allowing four goals on nine first-period shots.

Washington opened the scoring 6:30 into the game, off a two-on-one, when Anthony Mantha saucered the puck to Protas, who went forehand-backhand to beat Forsberg. Two minutes later, Carlson drove the puck in from a face-off win.

Ottawa responded when Batherson flipped the puck over a sprawled-out Darcy Kuemper (18 saves) with 9:48 remaining in the first. Roughly 2 1/2 minutes later, the Senators tied it on Pinto's redirection, which was ruled a good goal after review.

Washington, though, scored twice in 14 seconds to regain the lead for good. First came Max Pacioretty's snap shot on the power play with 1:27 remaining in the first. Then off an Ottawa turnover, Malenstyn converted point-blank from the slot.

However, just 1:27 into the second, Tkachuk went five-hole on Kuemper off a two-on-one with Vladimir Tarasenko.

The Capitals, though, responded just 31 seconds later when Lapierre pushed the puck past Joonas Korpisalo (eight saves) amid a mess in front of the Ottawa net. Lapierre then came through off another Washington two-on-one, with Mantha involved again, at the 9:05 mark of the second.

—Field Level Media

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