Hurricanes top Caps 5-1 for third preseason victory

Observations from the Carolina Hurricanes’ 5-1 win Friday over the Washington Capitals in their preseason game at PNC Arena:

-- Three preseason games, three preseason wins. For Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, things have fallen into place fairly neatly as he has been able to see a lot of people play while coming away with winning results.

“I think we’re just competing hard,” said defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who had a goal and two assists against the Caps. “I think Roddy instilled that in us. From the very beginning of camp, he instilled that in us.”

-- No one works any harder than Brind’Amour, but some long days appear to be having a draining effect on him.

After the Canes’ game Tuesday at Tampa Bay, Brind’Amour said he briefly slipped by his house after the flight home but soon was on his way back to PNC Arena. He wasn’t sure of the time but said “it was still dark” when he arrived at his office.

“I think Roddy tries to create that energy for us,” Slavin said. “He’s in here every day working hard.”

-- Canes goalie Petr Mrazek hasn’t faced a ton of shots in his two preseason games -- 19 in all -- but no complaints from Brind’Amour. The Canes haven’t allowed a lot and Mrazek has stopped nearly everything he has seen, beaten only by the Caps’ Nicklas Backstrom’s bullet from the right circle on Friday.

It helped that Alexander Ovechkin did not play for the Caps. As Brind’Amour said of the Caps’ power play, “They had a pretty big guy missing.”

-- Brind’Amour wasn’t sold on Sebastian Aho playing center entering training camp and Aho hasn’t done much to change his mind with some anything-but-sharp play in the middle in his two games.

“I haven’t really liked what he’s doing in the two games,” Brind’Amour said. “I think we’ll run it through the preseason and then we’ll kind of make an assessment.”

Aho centered Andrei Svechnikov and Valentin Zykov on Friday.

-- Warren Foegele seems to have a simple plan for training camp: make it tough on everybody, opponents and management.

The forward has been a hustler on every shift on the ice, an instigator, a pest. He has been at his best on the penalty kill, picking off a poor Caps pass in the first period Friday after a strong forecheck by Jordan Martinook to set up Martinook for a shorthanded score.

Crashing the net on another play, Foegele bumped into Caps goalie Braden Holtby, who had his paddle knocked away. Holtby retaliated by yanking Foegele’s stick out of his hands and angrily hurling it down the ice.

“A javelin throw there,” Foegele said.

Foegele, who made his NHL debutfor the Canes late last season, has that kind of effect on people.

“I’m trying to leave an impression,” Foegele said. “The goal is to make this team.”

-- It’s preseason but the Canes’ power play has produced seven goals in three games, with units that appear to mesh together.

Zykov scored early in the game Friday, getting inside position on the Caps’ Dmitry Orlov and taking a pass from Svechnikov. Slavin scored in the third period as Zykov had the primary assist.

One unit Friday had Jordan Staal, Justin Williams, Svechnikov and Zykov playing with Slavin -- Svechnikov used at one of the points. The second unit had Aho with Teuvo Teravainen, Martin Necas, Dougie Hamilton and Justin Faulk.

This story was originally published September 21, 2018 at 10:32 PM.