RALEIGH, N.C. - Skating in front of a playoff-like atmosphere at Lenovo Center, the Carolina Hurricanes punched their ticket to the 2025 postseason with a dominant 5-1 victory over the conference-leading Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
GAME SUMMARY | BOX SCORE | UPCOMING HOME GAMES
A fantastic first frame yielded a 3-0 lead for the Canes. Sean Walker first brought the home fans to their feet with a seeing-eye snipe at 6:14, capitalizing on a Caps turnover from the right circle. A pair of power-play goals followed from there - first, Jackson Blake potted a rebound just past the midway point of the period to double the lead, then Seth Jarvis wired a one-timer from the left dot at 13:21 for a three-goal advantage.
Washington began to find its legs in the middle frame, but not before Logan Stankoven made it 4-0 Canes at 9:27 with a top-shelf tuck on a partial breakaway set up by Jack Roslovic. The Caps eventually got on the board through an Alex Ovechkin power-play blast in the final minute of the frame, bringing the legendary sniper to within three goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal-scoring record (894).
Despite Washington gaining late life in the second stanza, the Canes put the pedal back down in the final frame and restored their four-goal lead through Blake's second of the contest. Netting the team's third PPG of the night, Blake collected a faceoff win at the blue line before deftly deking past Charlie Lindgren and lofting a backhand into the roof of the net. The scoring ended there, but the fireworks were far from finished as officials doled out 23 more penalties after Blake's goal, including four fighting majors, amidst a rising level of intensity in the final minutes.
Frederik Andersen stymied 20 of 21 Washington shots for his seventh straight win between the pipes, tying the second-longest winning streak of his career.
