Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves, then stopped all three shots he faced in a shootout, for the Utah Hockey Club in a 5-4 win against the host Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Vejmelka, who played in a 7-3 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, came on in relief in the first period after starter Connor Ingram (two goals allowed on 11 shots) left the game with an injury.
Josh Doan, Dylan Guenther and Jack McBain each had a goal and an assist for Utah, which enters the 4 Nations Face-Off break having won three of its past four games. Nick Schmaltz scored the only goal in the shootout.
Tom Wilson had two goals and an assist, Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist and Alex Ovechkin had three assists for the Capitals, who enter the break 3-0-3 in their past six games. Logan Thompson made 23 saves.
With his team trailing by two in the third period, Dylan Strome pulled Washington within 4-3 when he slipped the puck past Vejmelka’s right skate at 4:49.
With Thompson pulled for an extra attacker, Wilson redirected an Ovechkin feed from in front of the net to tie the game at 18:29.
Doan gave Utah a 1-0 lead at 1:10 of the first period on the first shot on goal of the game. He carried the puck up the left side of the ice before cutting to the middle high in the Washington zone and wiring a wrist shot that beat Thompson through his pads.
Michael Carcone doubled the visitors’ lead 32 seconds later on Utah’s second shot of the night. Guenther, in the right circle, spotted Carcone at the back door for a redirect into the open side of the net at 1:42.
Wilson made it 2-1 on the power play at 3:47 off a one-timer from just inside the circle that beat Ingram stick side.
McBain put a feed from Michael Kesselring under Thompson’s right arm to push the Utah lead to 3-1 at 7:07.
Dubois corralled the puck at the side of the net and tucked it inside the right post on the power play to narrow Washington’s deficit to 3-2 at 12:38.
Ingram was tended to by a trainer after the goal before exiting the game.
On a power play, Guenther’s one-timer from the left circle beat Thompson in the far top corner of the net to extend Utah’s lead to 4-2 at 2:47 of the second period.
–Field Level Media
