The Carolina Hurricanes were unable to find another gear as their weak second period put them in too big of a hole to get out of, falling to the Washington Capitals by a final score of 4-3 Friday night at PNC Arena.
It was set up to be an important game for the Hurricanes as the previous night had seen two of the teams ahead of Carolina in the standings (the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins) lose.
To make matters worse, four of the five teams directly below the Hurricanes picked up wins the night before making the wild-card gap even smaller.
It’s hard to be upset with a loss to the league’s best team by only a single goal, but the game was available for Carolina’s taking and it let it slip away.
“It seems that every time we play them, that is pretty much how the games go, pretty tight,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Lots of scoring chances there but we just didn’t find a way to pull it out.”
“Our second period put us in a hole,” said captain Jordan Staal. “We didn’t play our game in that second and they do a good job of, when you are not on, they make you pay. We made a push in the third but it’s tough to come back in this league, especially to a team like that.”
The Canes had a flurry of chances in the first period, outshooting the Capitals 18-7, but they couldn’t get the bounces to go against rookie netminder Ilya Samsonov. Carolina’s usually solid power play found no success in the opening frame and quickly gave way for Washington to climb back into the game.
“Our power play sucked the life out of us and then their power play got them going,” Brind’Amour said.
The Caps grabbed two early goals a bit over five minutes into the second period. The first was an own goal off Brett Pesce as Richard Panik’s initial shot was saved by Petr Mrazek, but as Carl Hagelin and Pesce battled for position, the rebound was knocked in by Pesce.
The second goal came on the power play as the Canes suffered a bad breakdown in coverage. With two players cheating towards Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson was able to thread a pass straight down the middle of the ice to Evgeny Kuznetsov for a back-door tap in.
Throughout the entire second period, the Hurricanes looked uninterested and slow, being outworked in every zone by the Capitals.
“Our first two periods were horrendous,” said Ryan Dzingel. “You get six power plays you should get one or two goals. We were horrendous in the first two periods and we got to clean it up.”
Some momentum built at the start of the third with Staal cutting the deficit to one just 39 seconds into the period. A point shot from Pesce deflected in off Staal who was providing the big net-front presence. It is a position Staal should find himself in more as his 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame provides an excellent screen.
Right off the ensuing faceoff after the goal, though, Erik Haula took a slashing penalty in the offensive zone and cut all of the momentum the Hurricanes could have built. The Capitals went on to score on that power play as Ovechkin ripped a one-timer that bounced off the endboards and right to Lars Eller perfectly positioned at the far post for an easy goal.
The Hurricanes then reverted back to second period form and a combination of lazy efforts led to the Capitals going up by three. First, Dougie Hamilton made a weak attempt to knock Kuznetsov off the puck at the blue line. Kuznetsov popped free of that, springing a 2-on-1 rush which he fed over to Jakub Vrana who was being trailed by three Hurricanes skaters, none of which had initially picked him up. Vrana was able to knock home the pass and it looked as if the Hurricanes were ready to call it there.
However, as they have proved many times before, the team is a resilient group and doesn’t go down without a fight.
“It’s a prideful room,” Staal said. “We don’t like going away. We are going to fight until the horn goes.”
The jump came on the Canes’ first successful power play, their fifth attempt, as Teuvo Teravainen was able to score on a rebound chance even he couldn’t pass off.
Andrei Svechnikov’s initial shot was blocked out in front but with about five bodies in front of Samsonov, Sebastian Aho was able to win the puck and send it out to Teravainen at the far post for a great look. Teravainen wasted no time and cashed in his eighth goal of the year and pushing his team lead in points to 41.
After that goal, Carolina began buzzing.
The offense generated chance after chance and Washington was struggling to handle the surging Canes.
Eventually, emotions boiled over for the Capitals as T.J. Oshie cross checked Warren Foegele after he barely missed the net off a great feed. Even Aho got involved with Oshie and Kuznetsov as the teams again came together.
Carolina came away with the power play from the scrum and it was Dzingel who found the back of the net. Martin Necas faked the one-timer and sent a pass to Dzingel in the slot. Dzingel picked his corner and beat Samsonov to bring the game within one goal.
The building became electric from that point on. With the team rallying, the fans got behind them and one could feel the energy coursing through the building. Despite it, strong play from Samsonov and a bad retaliatory penalty on Hamilton prevented the Canes from finishing the rally as they fell 4-3.
“Even when we lose, they’re hard losses, but we’re right there,” Brind’Amour said. “You could arguably say we could have won that game. We kept coming at the end and had a lot of opportunities. I like this group. They keep coming to work and they don’t quit.”
The Canes are now 2-1-0 so far during their seven-game homestand and will continue to try and make the most of it as the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town Sunday, Jan. 5 with puck drop at 5 p.m.
“We are close to a wild card spot or in it, I don’t know after tonight,” Dzingel said. “These next 10 games before bye week you have to put yourself in a good situation.”
Hurricanes center Jordan Staal brings up the puck while being defended by Capitals defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler on Friday, Jan 3, 2020 at PNC Arena. Staal had one goal and one point on two shots in the 4-3 loss.
