Caps Power Past Canes, 4-2

Sunday's matinee match between the Caps and the Carolina Hurricanes lived up to its billing and whets the appetite for the three remaining games between the two teams this season. Tied for the top spot in the Metro Division when the puck dropped in Raleigh, the two teams met for the first time in nearly two years on Sunday.

Dmitry Orlov's power-play goal with 2:55 remaining in regulation won it for Washington, 4-2. Orlov's goal came mere seconds after the Canes had navigated their way through 90 seconds worth of a 5-on-3 manpower advantage for the Capitals.

It took all five Capitals on the ice to manufacture the game-winner for Washington as Carolina's Seth Jarvis exited the penalty box and raced into his end to try to give Carolina another body.. It started with Alex Ovechkin up top, and the puck moved quickly to Evgeny Kuznetsov to John Carlson to Tom Wilson, and finally to Orlov, who beat Canes goaltender Frederik Andersen from the top of the paint on the right side, after taking a cross-crease feed from Wilson.
"[Wilson] made a nice play," recounts Orlov. "I think it was [Ovechkin] who passed to Carly, Carly passed to [Wilson] and then I kind of know I had maybe a little chance at the net. So I try to come there and have a shot - a strong shot - and it goes in.
"It was a good game. A big game for both teams, everybody played hard and it was intense. It was a great two points for us."
The two teams played to a scoreless first, with Carolina failing to take advantage of a pair of first-period power plays. Washington went without a shot on net from the offensive zone for a span of nearly 12 minutes in the first, a stretch that included both of its penalty killing missions in the game's initial period.
Just ahead of the midpoint of the middle period, the Caps began to spend some sustained time in the offensive zone, doing so on consecutive shifts from the Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nic Dowd lines, respectively. Minutes after that, the Caps cashed in on another offensive zone shift.
Alex Ovechkin scored his fourth consecutive goal for Washington, a slam dunk from down low after some excellent movement and passing from the Caps on the left side of the offensive zone. Lars Eller carried out of the left corner and put it to the left point for Dmitry Orlov, who worked a give-and-go with Tom Wilson on the left half-wall. Orlov put on a burst, taking the return feed with a step on his check and cutting to the slot. From there, he dished to Ovechkin for the tap-in and a 1-0 Washington lead at 11:58 of the second.

Less than a minute later, the Caps doubled their advantage on Aliaksei Protas' first career NHL goal. The Caps carried into Carolina ice and pushed the puck around the perimeter of the zone. Protas collected it down low on along the left half-wall, and he fired it toward the net, where it clanked off the skate of Carolina defender Tony D'Angelo and in for a 2-0 Caps lead at 12:57.
"It feels unreal," says Protas. "I had unreal chances created by Ovi and Kuzy in the first period, just couldn't get it in. So I just tried to put the puck in the net, play a little more simple, and it got in. It's an unreal feeling."
Caps goalie Ilya Samsonov was sharp, and he made a big stop on Ian Cole's shot from the high slot soon after Protas' goal, keeping the Canes from seizing any momentum.
The Caps had a late power play opportunity in the second, but they couldn't add to their lead.
Washington had its third power play chance early in the third, a chance to display some killer instinct and put the Canes down. Into a deeper hole But the Caps couldn't get anything started or established in Carolina ice, and the opportunity slipped away without as much as a shot attempt.
Carolina broke Samsonov's shutout spell at 6:22 of the third when he beat Samsonov with a high wrist shot from the slot to make it a 2-1 contest.
About five minutes later, the Canes went on a power play with a chance to pull even. The Caps weathered most of that storm, and when Lars Eller exited Washington ice with the puck and just a few ticks left on the kill, it seemed as though the Caps would preserve their lead. But Eller tried to make a play in neutral ice rather than getting it deep and going for a change, and Martin Necxas picked it off at the Carolina line and started the Canes up ice. After an exchange with Brett Pesce, Necas found Nino Niederreiter in the slot, and his shot beat Samsonov high to the glove side, tying the game at 2-2 with 6:32 remaining.
With exactly five minutes left, Nick Jensen carried into Carolina ice, patiently holding the puck before choosing between the shot and pass options, and in that instant, Jarvis hooked him to put the Caps on another power play. Thirty seconds into the man advantage, Sebastian Aho was boxed for slashing Protas, giving the Caps 90 seconds worth of 5-on-3 time and setting the stage for Orlov.

"it was a tough way to end the hockey game," says Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "It was a great game, great hockey game. I thought we had a great third period and we just did everything we could. It's unfortunate."
With 1:41 left in the third, Carlson sailed a long distance shot into the vacant Carolina net to account for the 4-2 final.
"They're competitive team," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of the Canes. "I really liked the second period. The first period I think was two teams trying to figure out the one o'clock start; it went back and forth a little bit. But the second period, I thought we were excellent. And then third period, we knew they were going to push and they did. And we found a way to win it."