Capitals recover for shootout win against Senators

WASHINGTON -- Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and two assists for the Washington Capitals, who recovered for a 5-4 shootout win against the Ottawa Senators at Capital One Arena on Monday.

Connor McMichael, Tom Wilson and Martin Fehervary each had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (39-14-8), who had lost three straight and finished 2-3-0 on their five-game homestand. Dylan Strome scored the only goal in the shootout, and Logan Thompson made 33 saves

“We’ll certainly take the win because we’ve been reeling a little bit here at home, but it didn’t look good out there,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “Didn’t feel good at any point in the game, so we’ll look at a few things. We’ll take the two points.”

Shane Pinto scored twice, Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist, and Jake Sanderson had three assists for the Senators (30-25-5), who have lost six of seven (1-5-1). Linus Ullmark made 37 saves, and Tim Stutzle had two assists to extend his point streak to 12 games (four goals, 14 assists).

“I thought we battled pretty well,” Pinto said. “Honestly, I think ‘Ullie’ kept us in that game, a couple of those chances that they had he kept us in it, but I think overall we grinded that one out. We were down 3-0 and we stuck together and found a way to get a point against a good team.”

McMichael gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead 1:41 into the first period when he tucked in the rebound of Fehervary’s point shot at the left post. Ottawa challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the call was upheld after a video review.

“Especially with how we’ve been playing lately, we wanted to have a good start and get on them early and create chances in the net front,” McMichael said. “I was fortunate that I was sitting there. Whiffed on it a few times but got a little lucky.”

Dubois extended the lead to 2-0 during 4-on-4 play at 3:34. McMichael skated down through the right circle before sending a backhand centering pass to Dubois for the tap-in.

Wilson made it 3-0 at 6:53 of the second period with a one-timer from the edge of the left circle off a pass from Dubois during a power play.

Pinto pulled the Senators to within 3-1 at 12:18. Sanderson took a pass from Pinto as he entered the zone on a rush before passing back to the forward across the low slot for a tap-in.

“I think starts are a big part of the game, and in the last two games I didn’t think we had too sharp of starts,” Pinto said. “Yeah, we’ve got to be more mature there and just have better starts.”

Giroux cut it 3-2 at 1:05 of the third period with a power-play goal, a one-timer from the top of the left circle.

“Yeah, going into the third we were down 3-1 and we felt good about our game, and we knew that if we keep playing the same way we’ll get our chances, and we did,” Giroux said.

Pinto tied it 3-3 at 8:01 when Michael Amadio's backhand centering pass deflected in off his stick and the stick of Capitals forward Lars Eller.

“You get up with that kind of lead, they start pushing, they start taking chances,” Wilson said. “We didn't have enough structure, we were giving them too many looks, and we just kind of took our foot off the gas for a minute, and then all of a sudden it was a hockey game.”

Fehervary put the Capitals back in front 4-3 at 12:43, scoring from the high slot after receiving a pass from Wilson as the trailer on a rush.

“Last couple games it wasn't really good, and it wasn't really our best game, but we got those two points, which is just really important for us to get us going,” Fehervary said.

Brady Tkachuk tied it again 4-4 with a power-play goal at 18:52. With Ullmark pulled for the extra skater, he buried the rebound of Stutzle's shot from the edge of the crease.

“I think your best offense is shooting the puck and then recovering the puck and, obviously, with Brady in front of the net, we want to get as many pucks as possible to the net,” Giroux said.

NOTES: Dubois has 37 assists this season, an NHL career high. ... Wilson has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in his past 10 games. ... Stutzle also extended his assist streak to 11 games, which is the longest in Senators history. ... Giroux went 11-for-14 on face-offs.