Capitals win streak at six after shootout victory

RALEIGH, N.C. --T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored in the shootout to lift the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Friday.
Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves for the Capitals (19-7-3), who have won six straight. Oshie tied the game 3-3 when he redirected Dmitry Orlov's shot at 13:56 of the third period for his 10th goal.
"This is a tough building to come into and win," said Oshie, who scored in the first round of the shootout. "It seems like they always play a hard, honest game against us. The outcome and having this one go into the shootout was fitting for how well both teams played."

WATCH: All Capitals vs. Hurricanes highlights
Cam Ward made 23 saves for the Hurricanes (12-11-7), whose seven-game home winning streak came to an end.
Jeff Skinner gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 5:46 of the first period. He got inside position on defenseman Matt Niskanen at the top of the crease and took a pass from Derek Ryan for a tap-in past Grubauer.
The Capitals tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 6:25 of the second. Nicklas Backstrom gained the Hurricanes zone and left a drop pass for Alex Ovechkin, who scored with a wrist shot under the cross bar from the top of the left faceoff circle.
It was the third power-play goal allowed by Carolina since Oct. 30.

Justin Williams scored at 11:13 to put Washington ahead 2-1. He took a pass from Kuznetsov from behind the net and chipped it past Ward at the near post.
"You have to be ready for the unexpected when you play with [Kuznetsov]," said Williams, who has five goals in his past five games scoring two in his first 24. "You never know when he's going to get you the puck, so you always have to have your stick on the ice."
Justin Faulk tied it 2-2 with his fifth of the season on a 2-on-1. Sebastian Aho pulled up on the rush and sent a perfect pass to Faulk, who crossed up Grubauer with a shot along the ice at 13:31.
Teuvo Teravainen's power-play goal 40 seconds into the third period gave Carolina a 3-2 lead. He redirected Aho's shot from the right point. The goal came eight seconds after Backstrom was called for holding Ryan.
"There's ways of making it easier on ourselves," Hurricanes center Jordan Staal said. "I don't think we did a terrible job. We hit a few posts in the third. We were moving our feet and still making plays. The rest is what it is."

Goal of the game

With quality scoring chances limited late in the game, Oshie used a little hand-eye coordination to score the tying goal. "I know [Brett Pesce] was trying to box me out, so I pushed into him and backed off a little, and Orlov made a great shot there," Oshie said. "You tip 'em and hope you get a good bounce."

Save of the game

In the final seconds of overtime, Grubauer got his stick on the ice and used his blocker to stop Ryan from in close.

Highlight of the game

Kuznetsov made his shootout goal look easy. He stayed on the forehand most of the way before drawing the puck to the backhand, getting wide of the right post, and elevating the puck past Ward.

Unsung performance of the game

With the Hurricanes on the power play in the third period and trying to increase their lead to two goals, Capitals forward Daniel Winnik blocked Jeff Skinner's shot at 5:15. Winnik had three blocked shots in 13:35 of ice time.

They said it

"We stayed aggressive, we stayed on our toes. In overtime, there was a couple of looks. I think both teams know how to defend, so it's hard to create in that situation, but I liked the effort." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"I'm not going to lie to you, that [goal] felt good to get on Cam [Ward]. I've never scored against him. I gave him a wink on the way by. I think he just shook his head." -- Capitals forward Justin Williams on scoring against his former Hurricanes teammate
"It's a little bit easier than 5-on-5, there's a little less traffic, you can read the plays maybe a little bit easier. I like it. It's fun for me." -- Capitals goaltender Philipp Grubauer on playing 3-on-3 overtime

Need to know

Aho and Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin each failed to put a shot on net in the shootout. Grubauer poke-checked the puck from Aho. Slavin had Grubauer beat but put a backhand off the post. … It was Washington's first shootout win in three chances. Carolina is 1-4 in the shootout. … The Capitals have scored six power-play goals in the past four games. ... Aho had two assists. ...Ward has started 17 of the past 19 games for the Hurricanes.

What's next

Capitals: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CITY, TVA Sports, CSN-DC, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, MSG-B, NHL.TV)