Recap: Canes' Late Surge Stymied In Game 2

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After completing a third-period comeback in Game 1, the Carolina Hurricanes once again got late life on Thursday, but couldn't erase the deficit as they fell 3-1 to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.

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For the second straight game, Carolina started on the front foot with shot and territorial advantages in the first period. Unfortunately, the Game 1 script also carried over to the start of period two, where the Capitals opened the scoring on a rush chance after a tough bounce in the neutral zone left Connor McMichael alone on a breakaway.

Early in the third, a power-play marker from Washington's John Carlson put the Canes in a two-goal hole, but Carolina answered back near the midway point of the period with a blast from Shayne Gostisbehere, converting on their own power play for the first time this series. The Hurricanes' continued push yielded a handful of chances but no more goals, and a late Caps' empty-netter put the game on ice.

Frederik Andersen finished with 18 saves on 20 shots in another steady showing for the Dane.

Stats & Standouts

• Shayne Gostisbehere picked up a third-period power-play goal for the Canes, posting his fourth power-play point of the playoffs (1G, 3A) after leading the team in that category during the regular season (27).
• Sebastian Aho assisted on Gostisbehere's goal and recorded his 21st career playoff power-play point, passing Rod Brind'Amour and Eric Staal for the most in franchise history.
• Carolina conceded a power-play goal for just the first time this postseason, ending its streak of perfect performances at six games. Only three teams have produced longer streaks to start a Stanley Cup Playoff run in the last 20 years.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour on the loss...

“We weren’t great, that’s for sure. You’ve got to give Washington credit, they played a much better game. Their first goal was a weird one, it goes off our defenseman for a breakaway, you don’t see that too often. There were other plays that they could have scored on too that could’ve made the game what it was. We have to be better, that’s for sure. We knew it was going to be hard. Having said that, we were still right in the game.”

Jordan Staal offering his thoughts on the team's play in Game 2...

“I thought our first was good. Second period was no good, even the first half of our third was not great. We were playing in our end a little bit too much - just turning over one too many pucks, not getting through the neutral zone, not getting on them and doing all the stuff we [usually] do."

Sean Walker on positives to take into Games 3 and 4 at home...

“I think the positive we can take away is that, when we were playing our game, we really controlled the momentum of the game. We had a lot more time in their zone, created a lot more for sure. We’ll look at it tomorrow - I think we know we got away from our game there a little bit, and they capitalized and took away from our momentum. We’ll look at it and move on."

Jordan Staal on returning to Raleigh after splitting two games on the road...

“Always nice to be in front of our fans. We’re going to have to take that momentum back and use our fans to do it. We’d love to be up [by] two, but that’s a good team and we’re going to have to start fresh at home here and take it to them again.”

Rod Brind'Amour sharing his thoughts on the series and heading home tied...

“We knew it was going to be hard. We didn’t expect it to be anything (other) than this. Can we be better? Yeah, that’s the good news. We know we have to be better if we want to win. They said the same thing the other night. This is not surprising. It’s tight, tight, tight, and we just have to regroup.”

What's Next?

• The Canes are scheduled to travel home after tonight's game and practice on Friday before taking the ice at Lenovo Center for Game 3 on Saturday.
• Next Game: Saturday, May 10 | Round 2, Game 3 vs. Washington | 6:00 p.m. ET | Tickets | Parking