Copley Earns First NHL Win in Caps 4-3 Shootout Victory over Flames

Two teams looking to rebound from subpar performances tangled in Calgary on Saturday afternoon. Both teams turned in a much sturdier performance than in their previous games, but the Caps prevailed over the Flames in the end, skating away with a 4-3 shootout win.

Saturday's victory is the first of Washington goaltender Pheonix Copley's career, and it came in his third career start, his second this season. Copley made 27 saves on the afternoon, and he stopped three of four in the shootout to claim his first victory. Copley's first NHL win comes a couple of months ahead of his 27th birthday, two and a half years after his NHL debut, and over four years since he signed his first pro contract with Washington.

"Obviously the first one means a lot, so it feels good," says Copley. "A win is a win. Im just happy for the win and happy that we won as a team."
Making his first start since Oct. 11 and his first appearance since Oct. 19, Copley showed improvement in the shootout from his Oct. 19 outing against Florida.
"I really liked his last game against Florida when he had to come in and help us get that point," says Caps coach Todd Reirden of Copley. "And then we - by design - practiced the shootout [Friday]. It's actually the first time we've done it this year.
"We talked before as a coaching staff about doing the shootout in Calgary [Friday], and I thought that those reps really were important for Pheonix, now looking back on it. That one worked out well, and I think he looked completely different than he did against Florida in the shootout."
Washington started the afternoon's scoring seconds after the first television timeout of the first period. Playing up with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin for the first time this season, Caps winger Jakub Vrana gave his team a 1-0 lead at 9:28 of the first. Kuznetsov stripped Flames defender T.J. Brodie, giving the Caps a two-on-none down low behind the defense. Kuznetsov fed Vrana, who netted his third of the season.
That Vrana goal gave Copley the first lead he has ever had to work with in his NHL career.

The Caps doubled that advantage on a power play in the back half of the first frame. Alex Ovechkin took a shot from the left side, and Calgary goalie Mike Smith made the stop. But T.J. Oshie was first to get to the rebound, and he roofed a backhander from the top of the paint to make it 2-0 at 14:27.
That two-goal cushion was short-lived. Calgary got on the board just 15 seconds after the Oshie goal, cutting the Washington lead in half when Johnny Gaudreau's intended centering feed clanked off the left skate of Flames defender Travis Hamonic and behind Copley at 14:42.
When Brett Connolly was deemed guilty of an interference minor in the offensive zone, Calgary went to its first full power play of the afternoon. Nine seconds later, Elias Lindholm snapped a shot past Copley from right dot, tying the game at 2-2 with 3:06 left in the first.
Late in the second, the Caps regained the lead with a second goal in as many games from their fourth line. Connolly carried the puck out of the right wing corner and left it for Matt Niskanen at the right point. Niskanen floated a shot through traffic and behind Smith to lift the Caps back into the lead, 3-2 at 16:57.
For most of the remainder of regulation, it looked as though Niskanen's goal might stand up as the game-winner. The Caps played road hockey in the third and got pucks deep routinely, but the Flames - still stinging from a 9-1 home ice loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday - brought it all in the third.

Copley made a blocker stop on Mikael Backlund in first minute of third, and he denied Dillon Dube from the slot and Sean Monahan from the right circle in the back half of the period. With two and a half minutes left, the Flames pulled Smith for the extra attacker. The gambit paid off with 1:27 left when Matthew Tkachuk tipped Rasmus Andersson's right point blast past Copley to make it 3-3.
Seconds later, the Caps went shorthanded when Kuznetsov was boxed for flipping the puck over the glass. Copley had to make two late regulation saves on the Calgary power play, and then four more in overtime to get the Caps to the shootout with a chance for the extra point.
Nicklas Backstrom's goal in the fourth round of the skills competition sent the Caps home with the win and a respectable 2-1-0 record for the three-game Western Canada tour.
"You don't have situations like that that occur, especially them getting the late goal and then for us to rally and win in the shootout," says Reirden. "It's a special moment for your team and for a guy like Pheonix who has really paid his dues, being trade and then us getting him back. It's a great story, and I'll you our guys couldn't have been any happier for him than they were tonight. It was awesome."