Backstrom ends SO, Copley gets 1st win as Caps beat Flames

Oct 28, 2018, 12:45 am

CALGARY, Alberta -- Nicklas Backstrom scored the winner in a shootout and goaltender Pheonix Copley earned his first career victory as the Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 on Saturday.

Matt Niskanen, Jakub Vrana and T.J. Oshie scored goals for Washington, which has won two of three on its Canadian trip.

Playing in his fifth NHL game, Copley stopped 27 of 30 shots in regulation and overtime and four of five in the shootout. The 26-year-old from North Pole, Alaska, hoisted the Stanley Cup with the Capitals last season when he was called up from the American Hockey League for the playoffs. Now he's the backup to Braden Holtby.

Matthew Tkachuk, Travis Hamonic and Elias Lindholm had goals in regulation for Calgary, which lost its third straight. Johnny Gaudreau had two assists to reach 200 for his career.

Sean Monahan scored for the Flames in the shootout. Flames goaltender Mike Smith turned away 24 of 27 shots in regulation and overtime.

Evgeny Kutznetsov scored in the shootout and had a pair of assists for the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin also had an assist.

Tkachuk tied it at 3-3 with 1:27 remaining when he tipped in a shot from the blue line by Rasmus Andersson.

The Caps went ahead 3-2 with about three minutes left in the second period when Niskanen threaded a shot through traffic to beat Smith glove side.

Vrana opened the scoring midway through the first period. Kuznetsov turned a turnover into a two-man rush and dished to Vrana, who beat Smith stick side.

The league's best power play struck at 14:27 when Oshie backhanded a rebound over Smith after Ovechkin's wrist shot.

Fifteen second later, Gaudreau's shot deflected off the leg of Hamonic for the defenseman's first goal of the season. Hamonic missed eight games with a broken jaw suffered in the season opener.

The Flames drew even on Lindholm's power-play goal with just over three minutes left in the first. The Swede one-timed a cross-ice pass from Gaudreau for his seventh goal this season.

Game notes
Flames forward James Neal was hit hard into the boards in the first period. He skated to the bench favoring his left shoulder, but continued to play.

UP NEXT

Capitals: Get four days off before continuing their Canadian trip in Montreal on Thursday.

Flames: At Toronto on Monday in the first of back-to-back road games.

---

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports