How Connor McMichael’s game-winning goal against the Kraken was aided by

Connor McMichael scored one of the biggest goals of his young career Thursday against the Seattle Kraken. And it came against a familiar foe.

After grabbing a turnover by former Capital Andre Burakovsky, McMichael raced in all alone on a breakaway where he froze netminder Joey Daccord with a deke and flipped the puck into the yawning net on his backhand.

The sensational goal gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead with 8:24 remaining.

The Capitals would then lock the Kraken down and hold on to win, putting them one point out from the final wild card spot in the East.

“It was a huge win for us,” McMichael told Monumental Sports Network’s Al Koken Thursday night. “We obviously wanted to respond from the last two games there that didn’t go our way at all. It was a great response from our group and I thought we didn’t give them much all night. It was a great effort for a back-to-back from our group.”

The tally marked McMichael’s first goal against Daccord in the NHL, but not in his career. The Capitals’ 2019 first-round pick scored two major goals against Daccord in the AHL’s 2023 Calder Cup Finals as a member of the Hershey Bears.

McMichael’s most notable tally then was his power-play goal in Game Seven against the Coachella Valley Firebirds where he found a rebound on his stick and buried the puck into the net to score the first of what was three unanswered goals by the Bears.

He also scored in Game Six, hooking up with Joe Snively to score on a one-timer in front of the net.

McMichael’s familiarity with Daccord the previous year in the minors aided him in crunch time for the Capitals.

“We had a big seven game series against them last year so we know him pretty well,” McMichael told Koken. “I just remember that he likes to challenge the shooter and he comes out of his paint pretty far. Just threw a little move there and was able to put it in.

“He’s a really aggressive goalie… so I just wanted to throw a little fake in there and try to beat him to that post. And luckily I did.”

The goal marked McMichael’s third game-winning goal of his career — all of which have come this season.

“It’s a huge goal by Mikey,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said postgame. “Those aren’t easy. It’s a breakaway, but against Joey Daccord in that situation, I felt like that was a little bit of — he had a pre-scout from the Calder Cup Finals last year playing against him and knowing his tendencies.”

The goal also gave McMichael goals in consecutive games. He has six goals in his last 12 games after scoring eight in his previous 51.