Capitals Take Roller Coaster Result From Canes

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals traded goals all night long on Friday, with the home team eventually taking a 7-6 (SO) final score.

Starting Slow (Comparitavely)...

Playing their third set of back-to-back games in 14 days, the Canes went into action tonight with a welcomed reinforcement to their lineup. Forward Teuvo Teravainen, who had missed the team's last four games due to an upper-body injury, was ready to draw back in, allowing the team to get back to their standard formation of 12 forwards and six defensemen.

Turning to Pyotr Kochetkov between the pipes, the young netminder got some early run support.

Newcomer Jake Guentzel and his center Sebastian Aho continued their budding chemistry, this time as the trade deadline acquisition set up #20 for his team-leading 28th goal of the season.

Working with an early lead, it wasn't all sunshine and roses for Rod Brind'Amour's group.

The group, playing in their 10th game in 16 days, looked just a bit out of sync.

After Brett Pesce hauled down Alex Ovechkin, Washington capitalized on their first and only power play of the period, evening the score at 1-1.

One of just four shots in the period for the Capitals, it looked as if the two teams were headed back to the locker room tied.

Instead, as we've seen several times lately from the reigning Metropolitan Division Champions, a late-period goal put them back in the driver's seat.

Inside the final minute, Jesperi Kotkaniemi got in on the forecheck, disrupting Darcy Kuemper and prying the puck free. Locating it before any Washington defender, he then found Jaccob Slavin jumping up into the zone to put their team ahead 2-1.

Back-And-Forth Second Period...

The first period was atypical in the sense that Carolina wasn't exceptional, but they held the lead at the end of it.

However, the nuttiness of those 20 minutes wouldn't even begin to scratch the surface of how wild the middle frame would get.

Kochetkov had to come up with a few important saves to preserve his team's lead through the first eight minutes, but then things got whacky.

First, it looked like Brent Burns had extended the Canes' lead to two, but the Capitals successfully challenged for goaltender interference.

Instead of the insurance, minutes later, Washington got a power play and moved to two-for-two on the man advantage, making it a 2-2 game.

On the very next shift, they claimed their first lead of the night.

Deflating in the moment, Carolina was forced to battle from behind.

Their pushback was rapid though.

Just 14 seconds later, Jordan Martinook tied it back up for the Canes... or so they thought.

Capitals Head Coach Spencer Carbury challenged this one as well, this time winning because Carolina had beat the puck into the zone.

Moving along still trailing by one, Carolina wouldn't take no for an answer.

On the very next shift, Guentzel and Aho connected for a second time, this time finally getting their team a third legal goal.

After all the craziness, it once again looked like the two sides were going to head back to their respective locker rooms tied.

However, just like the first, the Canes had some late-period magic up their sleeve.

During some four-on-four play, Brady Skjei let a shot fly from the point and it beat Kuemper to the glove side.

Giving Carolina a 4-3 advantage, despite having two goals disallowed, they had the momentum going to the finish.

Wacky, Wacky Third...

Just when you thought the evening couldn't get any wilder, the third period picked up right where the middle stanza left off.

3:45 in John Carlson tied the game at 4-4 with the third power play of the night for the home side and within five minutes Sonny Milano's third goal of the night put the Capitals back in front once again.

The scoring wasn't done though.

It took just 76 seconds for Carolina to respond, knotting the game at 5-5 as Seth Jarvis scored for a sixth consecutive game.

Bringing things back to even once again, the back-and-forth continued as the Capitals punched home a loose puck with just 6:07 on the clock.

In true fashion of tonight's game though, the Canes had an answer.

With the extra attacker on and just 2:21 before the final horn, a Martin Necas shot from the point hit Aho in the knee and went in, completing his hat trick.

Making him the first Canes player to 30 goals this season, it also secured a point for his team, sending the contest to overtime.

No Dice For The Kuzy Crawl...

In the extra session, both sides had two chances to win it, but neither found a home.

Still, in search of a winner, the contest moved to a shootout, giving Evgeny Kuznetsov a chance to have a storybook return to Washington.

Taking on the Capitals as an opponent for the first time in his career, #92 went first for the Canes in the shootout but was denied by Charlie Lindgren, who replaced Kuemper at the start of the third period.

Kuznetsov was the first of five skaters for Carolina who were turned away in the skills competition, and although Kochetkov kept pace through the first four rounds, Dylan Strome beat him in the fifth.

And so after 12 legal goals, two disallowed ones, and just one in the shootout, Washington walked away with the 7-6 result.

They Said It

Rod Brind'Amour following the contest...

"It was a weird game. Every little bad bounce seemed to go against us tonight. You have those [games]. Two goals got called back, a couple of weird things around the net... The bounces just really didn't go our way. We ended up with two power plays and they had five. We couldn't kill them tonight and that was the difference in the game. It was just a weird game for us, but every time something went wrong, we were able to dig ourselves out. I give the guys a lot of credit for that."

Sebastian Aho dissecting the loss...

"Too many penalties by us, like myself. I've got to be more careful with the stick there (on his second period penalty). I put the team down for four minutes for no reason. Stuff like that, coming off the back-to-back, and the same guys have to kill (hurts us). There's no rhythm to our five-on-five game and that hurt us. Having said that, we had a couple of good comebacks and we battled until the end. The effort is there for sure, but we have to be more focused on not taking penalties and not giving them all the momentum when it's not needed."

Jake Guentzel on his linemate Seth Jarvis, who now has goals in six straight games....

"He's a pure goal-scorer.  He's always around the net and he finds those soft areas.  You don't realize how good of a shot he has.  It's been unbelievable to play with him."

What's Next?

The Canes will fly back to Raleigh post-game and are scheduled to be off on Saturday. They'll return to action on Sunday against the Maple Leafs at PNC Arena.

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