The Washington Capitals visited the Carolina Hurricanes in a Sunday matinee in a battle of the top two teams in the Metropolitan Division. The Caps took a 2-0 lead into the third period, gave it back, but scored the final two goals to come out of North Carolina with a 4-2 win.
First Period
Both teams had trouble establishing any continuity in what was a back-and-forth game to start. Carolina was awarded the first power play at 8:38 of the period when Evgeny Kuznetsov was sent off for tripping. The Hurricanes could not convert, but they went a man up a second time at the 13:49 mark when Lars Eller went to the box for interference. The Caps skated that shorthanded situation as well. The teams went the remainder of the period at 5-on-5, but neither team could find paydirt, and the teams went to the first intermission in a scoreless tie.
-- Nic Dowd and Aliaksei Protas each had two shots to lead
the team.
-- The Caps out-hit the Hurricanes, 15-8, Beck Malenstyn
leading the team with three.
-- The Caps were just 6-for-19 in faceoffs (31.6 percent).
Second Period
Protas had a fine chance in the first minute of the period, but was turned aside by goalie Frederik Andersen. After the save, Teuvo Teravainen was whistled for hooking, going to the penalty box 40 seconds into the period to put the Caps on their first power play of the afternoon. The Caps were unable to convert, and the teams remained scoreless.
Alex Ovechkin broke the ice in the Caps’ favor 11:58 into the period. Dmitry Orlov collected a loose puck in the slot, drawing Carolina’s defense toward him. Orlov slid a backhand pass to Ovechkin to the right of Andersen, and despite Jesper Fast getting his stick on the puck as Ovechkin was releasing his shot, the puck slid past Andersen's left pad to make it 1-0.
The Caps doubled the lead on a fluke play 59 seconds after the Ovechkin goal. Protas, from the corner to Andersen’s right, tried to center the puck but it hit the skate of defenseman Tony DeAngelo and slid past the left skate of Andersen to make it 2-0, 12:57 into the period, Protas’ first NHL goal.
Washington went a man up late in the period when Brady Skjei was sent to the box for interference at 17:09 of the period. At 18:19, Tom Wilson and Brendan Smith went off on coincidental minors, Wilson for slashing – a poke at Andersen’s pads as Andersen was covering an Ovechkin shot – and Smith for roughing when he took exception to Wilson’s actions. With the two in the box, the Caps skated the remainder of their power play without success. Neither team would change the numbers on the scoreboard in the last moments of the period, and the Caps went to the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
-- Washington outshot Carolina, 11-9, in the period and out-attempted them, 25-15.
-- Aliaksei Protas led the team in shots through 40 minutes
with four; Ovechkin had 10 shot attempts, five of them blocked.
-- Thirteen of 18 skaters were credited with hits in the
first two periods, Beck Malenstyn leading with four.
-- John Carlson led the team in ice time over the first two
periods with 17:48.
Third Period
Washington went to a power play in the first minute of the period when Skjei was sent to the box for holding at the 46 second mark. Washington posed little threat on the man advantage, and they held on to their 2-0 lead.
Carolina halved the lead off a Caps turnover in seventh minute when Protas could not clear the puck from just inside the defensive blue line. The puck found its was to Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who rifled a shot past the glove of goalie Ilya Samsonov at the 6:22 mark.
Washington went a man short at the 11:30 mark when Martin Fehervary was sent off for hooking. Carolina did not convert the power play, but they scored just after the man advantage expired when Nino Niederreiter snapped a shot over Samsonov’s glove from the slot to tie the game at two apiece.
Washington went to a power play at the 15:00 mark when Seth Jarvis was called for holding. The Caps went to a 5-on-3 power play when Sebastian Aho was called for slashing at 15:30. It was Dmitry Orlov breaking the tie as the 5-on-3 portion of the power play expired from an unaccustomed location. From the right wing boards, Kuznetsov found John Carlson in the high slot. Carlson fed the puck to Tom Wilson, who fed the puck back across to Orlov at the doorstep to Andersen’s left. Orlov one-timed the puck and Andersen got a piece of it, but not enough to keep it from slithering through his pads and inching over the goal line at the 17:05 mark to make it 3-2, Caps.
Carolina pulled Andersen for the extra attacker with 2:27 left. John Carlson filled the empty net with 1:41 left to give the Caps a 4-2 lead, the final margin of victory for the Caps.
Other stuff…
-- Carolina outshot the Caps, 32-25 and out-attempted them, 64=52.
-- Aliakset Protas and Alex Ovechkin led the team with four
shots apiece, Ovechkin leading the team with 13 shot attempts.
-- The Caps had an uncommon number of skaters without a shot
attempt – Lars Eller, Mike Sgarbossa, Dennis Cholowski, Martin Fehervary, and
Brett Leason.
-- Nick Jensen led the team with six credited hits.
-- Eller was the only Caps taking more than one faceoff who
finished over 50 percent (8-for-15/53.3 percent).
-- John Carlson had a three-point game (1-2-3), his first
three-point game of the season.
-- Tom Wilson had a pair of assists, his third multi-assist
game of the year.
-- Dmitry Orlov had a goal and an assist, his third multi-point
game of the season and first on the road.
-- Carlson led the Caps with 26:54 in ice time.
-- Ilya Samsonov improved to 9-0-1 for the season. No goalie in the league has as many wins and
no losses in regulation.
In the end…
This was a statement game for the Caps. Carolina has been clinging to a thin lead over the Caps in the Metro for the most part for what seems like weeks, and the Caps went into their rink, beat them, and took over the division lead. They did not wilt when the Hurricanes tied the game in the third period. Under the circumstances, it was among the best wins of the season for the Capitals.
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