Back home, still winning: Hurricanes stifle Capitals in early Metro Division showdown
It’s too early in the NHL season for a big game, isn’t it? Or is it?
The Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals have been two of the best teams in the NHL this season, and the two went head to head Sunday in a Metropolitan Division game at the Lenovo Center.
The Hurricanes took a 4-2 victory in a game that wasn’t lacking for pace or entertainment value, earning their sixth consecutive victory to extend a streak that began with four in a row at the tail end of a six-game road swing.
Carolina (8-2-0) defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored twice against his former team, including the game-winner in the second period, and forward Martin Necas continued to pile up points with a goal and two assists in extending his point streak to six games.
Alexander Ovechkin scored on the power play for the Caps (8-3-0) and continued to pull closer to Wayne Gretzky as the league’s leading career goal scorer. Ovechkin’s seventh of the season was No. 860 of his career, leaving him 34 behind Gretzky’s record, which seemed so unassailable for many years.
Pyotr Kochetkov again was the starting goalie for the Canes as Frederik Andersen continues to recover from a lower-body injury. He didn’t have nearly as much work as the Caps’ Charlie Lindgren, who had the Canes swarming around him and made several high-quality saves as Carolina got off 44 shots.
Kochetkov had the crowd roaring midway through the third period when he denied Ovechkin on a partial breakaway on a play Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour called the “big save of the game.”
“Their goalie played great and kept them in it,” Brind’Amour said. “Then, ‘Ovi’ gets loose and he’s the wrong guy to get loose. But ‘Kooch’ made a heckuva save there.”
The Caps pulled Lindgren for an sixth attacker in the final 85 seconds of regulation and Ovechkin got off another two shots before Andrei Svechnikov’s empty-net goal sealed it for Carolina in the final seconds.
In his 11 seasons with the Caps, Orlov won a Stanley Cup with Ovechkin and saw No. 8 score goals by the boatload. He saw him score again Sunday as Ovechkin unloaded a one-timer for a 5-on-3 goal in the final minute of the first period.
But Orlov did his countryman and former teammate one better, matching his career high.
“It’s not easy, mentally and emotionally,” Orlov said of facing Ovechkin and the Caps. “He’s a legend and a nice friend. It’s special, and it is an important win for us.”
Orlov ripped a shot from the left circle for the first goal of the game in the opening period, then buried a blast from the right circle at 5:26 of the second period to give the Canes a 3-2 lead.
“He’s got a heavy shot and we’d love him to shoot more,” Brind’Amour said. “Sometimes, he starts doing other things with it. But when he gets those opportunities, the one-timer especially, he’s got a heavy, heavy shot.”
Necas had tied the score 2-2 as the Canes quickly transitioned the puck. Jesperi Kotkaniemi forced a turnover in the Carolina zone and quickly got it ahead to Eric Robinson. Necas was on the receiving end of a nice setup pass from Robinson as he broke for the net, lifting a backhander past Lindgren.
The Caps rolled into Raleigh off a big home-ice win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, ripping off five first-period goals in a 7-2 victory. Washington was averaging 4.4 goals a game, getting 18 in their three-game winning streak, while allowing 25 shots a game defensively.
The Canes controlled much of the opening period but lost its lead in the final minute. In one sequence, Necas was called for hooking and then defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere for tripping. That set up two full minutes of 5-on-3 power play time for the Caps, and the Canes’ penalty killers almost navigated the full two minutes.
But with 15 seconds left in the Caps’ two-man advantage, Ovechkin got off the one-timer from the left circle, his first power-play goal of the season.
“He doesn’t need much. We’ve seen that a hundred million times,” Brind’Amour said of Ovechkin.
Ovechkin pointed at Kochetkov after the goal, not that Kochetkov made an issue of it.
“He said, ‘I score on you’ but all Russians do this,” Kochetkov said, smiling. “It’s no problem for me,”
With 10.7 seconds before the end of the period, Brandon Duhaime scored off the rebound of a Nic Dowd shot after the Canes turned over the puck in their end. Two goals in 33 seconds and the Caps led 2-1 after one.
But the Canes’ pressure game in the second and third periods was relentless. Ovechkin, for example, had one shift in the offensive end in the second as Carolina kept the puck in the Caps zone, getting 16 shots in the period
“Give the guys a lot of credit because they just turned the page and went at it, and the rest of the way I thought we were pretty solid,” Brend’Amour said.
This story was originally published November 3, 2024 at 7:47 PM.
