Washington Capitals (7-7-1 15pts) v. Carolina Hurricanes (11-4-0 22pts)

Game Recap

Heading into Carolina for the third game of their road trip, the Washington Capitals look to end their two game losing streak and earn their second win in eight games as they visit the Hurricanes. For the Capitals, the start of this season has not been a fun one, but entering tonight’s game, they sit at 7-7-1 with a .500 record and the special teams have been less than desirable. The Capitals powerplay is ranked 28th overall at 14.9 percent while the penalty kill is ranked 27th overall at 71.7 percent. Fortunately for the Capitals, the Hurricanes powerplay is ranked 30th overall at 14 percent, but their penalty kill is ranked 10th overall at 82 percent, and will pose a real problem for an already struggling Capitals powerplay. “Yeah, it’s a fine line right?” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery questioned when asked about the special teams units. “Because what you’re asking there is a question of, ok, do you stay with trying to create chemistry and continuity and let them work through the growing pains or is it time to change it then you change it and then you change it and then you change it well then the complaint will be, well we can’t generate any chemistry because it’s changed so quickly and so that’s, I think a feel thing as us as coaches, it’s no different than 5-on-5 lines and moving guys around is you gotta be careful with how often you do that because you want to give whether it’s line combination or powerplay groups opportunities to create chemistry and sometimes that’s working through some adversity or some, quote unquote, bad times before it gets good. And so we’ve moved the units around a little bit. We’ve stayed with them at certain points and you don’t feel like right now we’re trying to prioritize a little bit of the chemistry part, but definitely acknowledge that there’s a fine line to that before you need to make changes.”

“Just their whole roster is built on speed so they can all skate,” Carbery said when asked what makes it so difficult to play against the Hurricanes. “And that just goes directly in line with how they pressure the puck all over the ice. So, it’s a 5 man pressure every single zone. And they have a lot of confidence in that, and they play very, very connected, and they can be aggressive because the have such confidence in their skating ability to be able to recover. Even if you do get them in a vulnerable spot, they just are so quick to recover from the other 4 guys on the ice, so they do. Yeah, they’ve done a good job of it.”

In the first period, the Hurricanes would get two quick scoring chances, but Ethan Frank would draw a tripping penalty against K’Andre Miller 55 seconds into the game fort he Capitals first powerplay of the game. However, despite a really good opportunity by Alex Ovechkin, the Capitals would come up empty handed on this powerplay opportunity. Moments after failing to score on the powerplay, the Capitals fourth line would strike as Ethen Frank would feed Brandon Duhaime a beautiful pass to give the Capitals the 1-0 lead. The Capitals would generate a few good odd man chances, and while applying pressure in the offensive zone, Jakob Chychrun would be taken down in front of the net to put the Capitals back on the powerplay. The powerplay would feature a really great chance for Ovechkin to score again, but he would be denied and the powerplay would fail to capitalize on the opportunity. With 5 minutes left in the period some fireworks would go off as a post-whistle scrum that almost saw a goalie fight. After the dust settled, the Hurricanes would receive their first powerplay of the game. While on the penalty kill, the Capitals would take a penalty as Connor McMichael would go to the box for hooking. The Capitals would kill off the back to back powerplays, and then create another scoring opportunity before the period ended with the Capitals ahead 1-0.

In the second period, the Hurricanes would start off hot with a quick scoring opportunity from Jordan Staal, and then Jordan Martinook would draw a penalty against Chychrun to put the Hurricanes on the powerplay for the third time this game. A defensive lapse would allow the Hurricanes to get two quality shots on goal, but Logan Thompson would make the saves to help the Capitals kill off the penalty. At the 5:59 mark of the period, Ovechkin would feed a really great pass to Dylan Strome, which he would shot top shelf on Frederik Andersen to grow the Capitals lead to two, and on their first shot of the period too. Throughout the first half of the second period, the Hurricanes would dominate the shot count as they would out shoot the Capitals 7 to 1, but Logan Thompson would be a wall for the Capitals keep the two goal lead, and then Ryan Leonard would draw a penalty to put the Capitals back on the powerplay for the third time this game. While the first unit only generated one shot on goal, the second unit generated some chaos in the Carolina zone, and generated 3 shots on goal, but were unable to get on the board with the extra man advantage. Unfortunately for the Capitals, a lapse in front of Thompson would allow Nikolaj Ehlers to score to cut the Hurricanes deficit to one. Thompson would remain strong for the Capitals the rest of the period to keep them ahead 2-1 heading into the second intermission.

Then in the third period, after some back in forth play, the Capitals would draw a penalty on K’Andre Miller to go onto their fourth powerplay of the game, and right away, Tom Wilson had a golden opportunity to retake the two goal lead, but Frederik Andersen would rob Wilson to keep the Hurricanes down by one. But that wouldn’t last long as Jakob Chychrun would strike on the powerplay for his 100th career NHL goal to give the Capitals the 3-1 lead. Chychrun with the rebound in front of the net was much needed for the Capitals as they continue to get through their powerplay struggles. Shortly after, the Hurricanes thought they got one back, but Connor McMichael would prevent the puck from completely crossing the goal line to keep the Capitals ahead by two. Near the midway point of the period, Rasmus Sandin would go off for hooking to give the Hurricanes their fourth powerplay of the night, and after smart play by Nic Dowd and a hard hustle by John Carlson, they would force Seth Jarvis to take a penalty to cut short the Hurricanes powerplay and give the Capitals an abbreviated one. With around five minutes left in regulation, Andersen would make spectacular saves on Dowd and Ovechkin, but would get banged up after a collision with his own teammate Jordan Staal. Andersen would not finish the game as Pyotr Kochetkov would come in relief for his injured teammate. Once play resumed, the Hurricanes started playing with urgency and generating multiple chances only to be stonewalled by Logan Thompson. Unfortunately for the Capitals, Chychrun would get called for cross checking with 3:22 left in regulation. With Kochetkov pulled for the extra attacker, Alex Ovechkin would score on the empty net for career NHL goal 901 to give the Capitals the 4-1 victory over the Hurricanes.

 

Lineups:

Washington Capitals

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Anthony Beauvillier

Aliaksei Protas — Connor McMichael — Tom Wilson

Hendrix Lapierre — Justin Sourdif — Ryan Leonard

Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Ethen Frank

Martin Fehervary — John Carlson

Jakob Chychrun — Matt Roy

Rasmus Sandin — Declan Chisholm

Logan Thompson

Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Sonny Milano, Dylan McIlrath, Trevor van Riemsdyk

Injured: Pierre-Luc Dubois (lower body)

 

Carolina Hurricanes

Andrei Svechnikov — Sebastian Aho — Seth Jarvis

Nikolaj Ehlers — Logan Stankoven — Jackson Blake

William Carrier — Jordan Staal — Jordan Martinook

Taylor Hall — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Eric Robinson

K’Andre Miller — Sean Walker

Alexander Nikishin — Shayne Gostisbehere

Mike Reilly — Joel Nystrom

Frederik Andersen

Pyotr Kochetkov

Scratched: Mark Jankowski, Brandon Bussi, Gavin Bayreuther

Injured: Jalen Chatfield (undisclosed), Jaccob Slavin (lower body), Charles-Alexis Legault (hand)

 

 

First Period

CAR Penalty – 0:55 – K’Andre Miller – 2 minutes for Tripping

WAS Goal – 5:42 – Brandon Duhaime (2) from Ethen Frank (3) and Nic Dowd (4)

CAR Penalty – 12:34 – Mike Reilly – 2 minutes for Tripping

WAS Penalty – 15:00 – Nic Dowd – 2 minutes for Goalie Interference

WAS Penalty – 15:00 – Martin Fehérváry – 2 minutes for Roughing

WAS Penalty – 15:00 – Martin Fehérváry – 5 minute major for Fighting

CAR Penalty – 15:00 – Logan Stankoven – 5 minute major for Fighting

CAR Penalty – 15:00 – Frederik Andersen – 2 minutes for Roughing

WAS Penalty – 16:57 – Connor McMichael – 2 minutes for Hooking

 

End of First	WAS – 1	CAR – 0
Shots	10	7
Faceoff Wins	10/14	4/14
Hits	2	8
Powerplay	0/2	0/2

 

Second Period

WAS Penalty – 0:33 –  Jakob Chychrun – 2 minutes for Holding

WAS Goal – 5:59 – Dylan Strome (5) from Alex Ovechkin (8) and John Carlson (8)

CAR Penalty – 10:17 – Sean Walker – 2 minutes for Hooking

CAR Goal – 13:56 – Nikolaj Ehlers (3) from Jackson Blake (8) and Shayne Gostisbehere (7)

 

End of Second	WAS – 2	CAR – 1
Shots	18	20
Faceoff Wins	16/34	18/34
Hits	7	13
Powerplay	0/3	0/3

 

Third Period

CAR Penalty – 5:11 – K’Andre Miller – 2 minutes for Tripping

WAS PPG – 5:46 – Jakob Chychrun (4) from Ryan Leonard (5) and John Carlson (9)

WAS Penalty – 8:13 – Rasmus Sandin – 2 minutes for Hooking

CAR Penalty – 9:10 – Seth Jarvis – 2 minutes for Hooking

WAS Penalty – 16:38 – Jakob Chychrun – 2 minutes for Cross Checking

WAS ENG – 19:29 – Alex Ovechkin (4) from Anthony Beauvillier (2)

 

End of Third	WAS – 4	CAR – 1
Shots	28	31
Faceoff Wins	23/50	27/50
Hits	13	22
Powerplay	1/5	0/5

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