Canes off to a cold start

The Hurricanes open their exhibition season with a loss to the Capitals. Washington gets off to a quick start with two first-period goals, and the Canes, playing without some of their regulars, never catch up. TWO GOALS ON THEIR FIRST THREE SHOTS SEND CAP

RALEIGH -- Carolina Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette was hard-pressed to find anything he liked about his team's play Wednesday in its exhibition opener.

Defenseman Joni Pitkanen scored the Canes' only goal and performed well, Laviolette said. He liked Ryan Bayda's effort, as well as the grit of Chad LaRose and Scott Walker.

As for the rest, there wasn't much to say. The Washington Capitals scored on two of their first three shots in blistering the Canes 4-1 before 11,431 at the RBC Center.

The Caps' Alex Ovechkin, who begged to play in all of the exhibition games, was left behind in Washington. The Caps, the defending Southeast Division champions, and Canes go at it again tonight at the Verizon Center, and Ovechkin, the NHL's most valuable player last season, will be on the ice.

But the Caps didn't need Ovechkin's heavy shot or scoring touch this night. Tomas Fleischmann scored two power-play goals, and Matt Bradley and Mathieu Perreault each scored an even-strength goal as Washington cruised.

"We didn't execute well at all," Laviolette said. "I think more concerning was the fact we got out-competed pretty much for 50 minutes.

"They got the pucks quicker. When they did get to the pucks, they competed harder. I thought they were a step ahead of us."

Pitkanen, who joined the Canes in the trade with the Edmonton Oilers for Erik Cole, scored in the second period with the Canes on a two-man advantage. But the Hurricanes could generate very little five on five or five on four, getting off 20 shots in the first period against the Caps' Simeon Varlamov but just 11 in the final two periods.

"I think in the first period we played pretty good," Pitkanen said. "They scored a couple of goals but we had a lot of shots. But after that, we stopped skating. The second and third periods were a little tougher."

Pitkanen was paired with Tim Gleason on defense, but Gleason left the game with an undisclosed leg injury. Laviolette said Gleason probably would miss "a little bit of time."

With Canes center Eric Staal and Ray Whitney sitting out the game, it was an chance for players such as Jeff O'Neill and Drayson Bowman to get some meaningful minutes. But neither O'Neill, the former Canes star trying to resurrect his career, nor Bowman, coming off a big junior season with Spokane, could produce very much.

"Too many of our veterans didn't play well enough and I guess we were looking for more from the people who got opportunities," Laviolette said.

Cam Ward started in goal for the Canes, but the Caps converted on their first power play, then added a second goal barely a minute later when Bradley was unchecked in front of the goal.

"The first goal was a bad break, it goes off the inside of [Niclas Wallin's] leg, bounces off me and the guy bats it out of mid-air,'' Ward said. "The second one, the guy got the chance because it was a broken play and the puck was bouncing a little bit.

"But that stuff is going to happen. You never want to start a game like that, two goals in the first 10 minutes, but I felt better in the second period."

Justin Peters took over for Ward midway the second period, giving up the last two goals on 19 shots.

Though it was an exhibition game, Ward said it also a game was against the Canes' biggest rival and a team that denied it as playoff spot last season.

"That was an opportunity for us to send a message that it's going to be tough division," he said. "Hopefully the game [today] will be a better effort.''

CAPITALS 4, HURRICANES 1

Washington220 -- 4

Carolina010 -- 1

First: 1, Washington, Fleischmann 1 (Carlson, Kozlov), 6:21 (pp). 2, Washington, Bradley 1 (Laing), 7:25.

Second: 3, Carolina, Pitkanen 1 (Samsonov, Corvo), 7:58 (pp). 4, Washington, Perreault 1 (Jurcina, Giroux), 11:57. 5, Washington, Fleischmann 2 (Kozlov, Nylander), 17:06 (pp).

Third: None.

Shots on goal: Washington 8-12-13--33. Carolina 20-3-8--31. Goalies: Washington, Varlamov, Machesney. Carolina, Ward, Peters. A--11,431 (18,730). T--2:16.