Ovechkin scores twice for Capitals in exhibition win against Hurricanes

Alex Ovechkin had two goals and an assist, and the Washington Capitals defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in an exhibition game at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Wednesday.

"I can't say I'm totally surprised," Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. "How he came back after the pause, how he's been working in practice, the energy he's had, it doesn't happen by accident."

Dmitry Orlov had two assists, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored, and Braden Holtby allowed one goal facing 13 shots in two periods for the Capitals. Vitek Vanecek, Washington's new backup goalie because of a season-ending injury to Ilya Samsonov, allowed one goal on 14 shots in the third period.

Washington defenseman John Carlson did not play the last 10 minutes. The Norris Trophy finalist fell awkwardly into the end boards after getting tangled up with Carolina forward Nino Niederreiter with 14:53 left in the third period. Carlson played one more shift, for 34 seconds, before leaving the game with 9:59 remaining.

"Obviously in a situation like this, best to have him leave," Reirden said. "We'll see how he's doing later tonight and tomorrow. We'll have more of an update for you then."

Vincent Trocheck and Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Hurricanes. Petr Mrazek allowed three goals on 16 shots before he was replaced by James Reimer with 7:35 remaining in the second period. Reimer didn't allow a goal on nine shots.

Carolina played without defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Martin Necas; each is unfit to play because of an injury.

"I didn't like too much, to be honest with you," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I thought the third period was a little better. We started, I felt like, getting to more of what our game should look like. I expect it to be rusty and we saw that the first really two periods. That concerns me a little, but I like the fact that it looked like in the third we got our legs."

Brind'Amour said the coaching staff hasn't decided which goalie will start Game 1 against the New York Rangers in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city, on Saturday (Noon ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN, SN360, TVAS, FS-CR, MSG). Carolina is the No. 6 seed, New York is the No. 11 seed, and the winner of the best-of-5 qualifier series will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"Both guys I thought were good," Brind'Amour said. "I think [Reimer] coming in cold was really good. That's a tough task to come in when you haven't had any shots. He was good. I thought Petr was good too. I'm happy with those guys for sure."

Ovechkin gave Washington a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal from the top of the left circle at 8:27 of the first period.

Trocheck tied it 1-1 30 seconds later, when he used his backhand to put the puck in after it trickled behind Holtby and after the net came off its moorings. It was not called a goal on the ice, but video review determined that Capitals center Nic Dowd caused the net to dislodge prior to the puck crossing the goal line.

"It's been a while since we've been playing hockey, so to be able to get a goal, kind of feel the rhythm of the game, the puck on your stick a little bit, it's obviously going to help a little bit confidencewise," Trocheck said. "Realistically, all we wanted to get out of this game was to get the rust off, realize how we want to play hockey, realize what our identity was. I think toward the end of the game we started to realize that."

Ovechkin assisted on Kuznetsov's goal to make it 2-1 at 10:34 of the first period, and made it 3-1 by scoring off the rush at 12:25 of the second period.

He said the most important thing for the Capitals was to see where they stand in a game. Each of the 24 teams in the Qualifiers plays one exhibition.

"We played well," Ovechkin said. "We played physical. We made some good plays at both ends of the ice and it was a good game for us."

The Capitals play their first round-robin game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Scotiabank Arena on Monday (4 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN360, TVAS, Sun, NBCSWA). They also play the Philadelphia Flyers (Aug. 6) and the Boston Bruins (Aug. 9) to determine seeding for the playoffs.

Teravainen made it 3-2 by scoring a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 2:42 of the third period.

The Hurricanes had a 6-on-4 advantage in the final 27 seconds after Tom Wilson was called for cross-checking Trocheck, and Reimer was pulled for the extra skater.

"We've got a lot of decisions to make now," Brind'Amour said. "We all along knew that this time would come, having to really put the best lineup out there possible. Obviously, with a couple guys out, that makes it a little interesting as well. I'm not sure if they're going to be back. This game, we'll review it, and we have two days to put the best lineup out there possible."