Washington Capitals (13-3-5 31pts) v. Carolina Hurricanes (15-3-1 31pts)
Game Recap:
On the road the Washington Capitals travel to Raleigh to take on their Metropolitan Division rival Carolina Hurricanes as both teams vie for first place in the division in their early afternoon matinee. In the first period it would be very fast paced, but also very sloppy. In the opening seconds the puck would become very lively as it would skip past Ilya Samsonov behind the net and go right to a Canes player, but Martin Fehervary would come in with the toe save to keep the game scoreless. The Hurricanes would apply some great pressure on the Caps, but the Caps would still generate some really solid scoring chances early on. around the midway point of the first period Evgeny Kuznetsov would get called for tripping, but the Canes would struggle on the powerplay as the Caps would kill of the penalty. Later in the period Lars Eller would get called for interference, but once again the Caps would kill off the penalty as the Canes would struggle to generate any real offense with the man advantage. To finish the first period both teams would get some more scoring chances, but both Samsonov and Frederik Andersen would stand tall in net to keep the game scoreless.
In the second period Aleksai Protas would get a great scoring opportunity, and it would lead to the Caps getting on the powerplay 40 seconds into the period. The Caps would get one guick one-timer from Alex Ovechkin, but it would go wide. The Canes would play a solid layered defense to kill the penalty to Teuvo Teravainen. After the midway point of the period the Caps would break things open as Alex Ovechkin would bank in his 19th goal of the season off of an amazing pass from Dmitry Orlov that fooled the defense and Andersen to take the 1-0 lead. Then 59 seconds later Aleksai Protas would net his first career goal after he would bank a pass off of the skate of Tony DeAngelo and go past Andersen to give the Capitals the two goal lead. Shortly after the mini scoring spree the Caps would continue to apply the pressure in the Canes zone and would force the Canes to take a penalty to put the Caps on their second powerplay of the game. The Capitals would generate some great scoring chances on the powerplay, but Andersen would keep the Caps off the board and the Canes only down by two. Frenemies Brendan Smith and Tom Wilson would pick up their beef from last season as both men would get coincidental minors as the end of the period.
Then in the third period the Capitals would come out flying again, and as a result Brady Skjei would take his second penalty of the game to put the Caps back on the powerplay 46 seconds into the period. The Caps wouldn’t do much with the extra man advantage, and after killing the penalty the Canes would start to surge. A little over six minutes into the period Jesperi Kotkaniemi would strike to get the Canes on the board and end Samsonov’s shutout bid. After the goal the Canes would continue to generate solid scoring chances, and after a post by Hagelin in the Canes zone, Sebastian Aho would get a breakaway opportunity only to draw a penalty against Martin Fehervary. With the powerplay the Canes would not strike on the man advantage, but shortly after the powerplay expired the Caps would make a bad play and the Canes would take advantage as Nino Niederreiter would score to tie the game at two for the Canes. In the final five minutes of regulation the Canes would get themselves into penalty trouble as the Caps would get a 90 second two man advantage, and while they were moving the puck great, they couldn’t get their shots on goal, but as the first penalty expired the Caps would do a fantastic passing exhibition as Dmitry Orlov on the doorstep would bank one home to give the Caps the 3-2 lead. With about two and a half minutes left in regulation the Canes would pull Andersen for the extra attacker, but John Carlson would get the empty netter to give the Capitals the 4-2 victory over the Hurricanes in a hard fought battle between the two division rivals.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael — Lars Eller — Tom Wilson
Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Brett Leason — Michael Sgarbossa — Beck Malenstyn
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Dennis Cholowski — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Ilya Samsonov
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Matt Irwin, Daniel Sprong
Injured: Nicklas Backstrom (hip), Anthony Mantha (shoulder), Conor Sheary (upper body), T.J. Oshie (lower body), Justin Schultz (upper body)
Carolina Hurricanes:
Teuvo Teravainen — Sebastian Aho — Martin Necas
Andrei Svechnikov — Jordan Staal — Seth Jarvis
Nino Niederreiter — Vincent Trocheck — Jesper Fast
Jordan Martinook — Steven Lorentz — Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Jaccob Slavin — Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei — Brett Pesce
Brendan Smith — Ian Cole
Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta
Scratched: Derek Stepan
Injured: None
COVID-19 protocol: Ethan Bear
First Period:
WAS Penalty – 8:38 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Tripping
WAS Penalty – 13:49 – Lars Eller 2 minutes for Interference
| End of First | WAS – 0 | CAR – 0 |
| Shots | 7 | 10 |
| Faceoff Wins | 6 | 13 |
| Hits | 15 | 8 |
| Powerplay | 0/0 | 0/2 |
Second Period:
CAR Penalty – :40 – Teuvo Teravainen 2 minutes for Hooking
WAS Goal – 11:58 – Alex Ovechkin (19) from Dmitry Orlov (8) and Tom Wilson (13)
WAS Goal – 12:57 – Aleksai Protas (1) from John Carlson (16)
CAR Penalty – 17:09 – Brady Skjei 2 minutes for Interference
WAS Penalty – 18:19 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Slashing
CAR Penalty – 18:19 – Brendan Smith 2 minutes for Roughing
| End of Second | WAS – 2 | CAR – 0 |
| Shots | 18 | 19 |
| Faceoff Wins | 14 | 24 |
| Hits | 22 | 20 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 0/2 |
Third Period:
CAR Penalty – :46 – Brady Skjei 2 minutes for Holding
CAR Goal – 6:22 – Jesperi Kotkaniemi (5) from Jordan Martinook (5) and Tony DeAngelo (16)
WAS Penalty – 11:30 – Martin Fehervary 2 minutes for Hooking
CAR Goal – 13:32 – Nino Niederreiter (4) from Martin Necas (8) and Brett Pesce (6)
CAR Penalty – 15:00 – Seth Jarvis 2 minutes for Holding
CAR Penalty – 15:30 – Sebastian Aho 2 minutes for Slashing
WAS PPG – 17:05 – Dmitry Orlov (4) from Tom Wilson (14) and John Carlson (17)
WAS ENG – 18:19 – John Carlson (5) from unassisted
| End of Third | WAS – 4 | CAR – 2 |
| Shots | 25 | 32 |
| Faceoff Wins | 28 | 34 |
| Hits | 30 | 23 |
| Powerplay | 1/5 | 0/3 |
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