The Carolina Hurricanes let one slip away Friday night. Despite leading 4-1 in the second period, the Canes fell 6-5 in the shootout to the Washington Capitals at PNC Arena.
The Canes (13-13-5) took a 4-1 lead in the second period, but the Capitals (20-9-3) stormed back for five unanswered and a one-goal lead in the third. Carolina tied it late with a gift-wrapped goal for forward Justin Williams, but could not muster anything else, despite an extended power play in overtime.
“I thought the effort was fine,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I liked the effort. The execution was where we lack. We’ve got to keep drilling that point home. The management of the puck really, that’s probably the most disturbing thing to me, because we talk about it all the time. Maybe that’s the problem, maybe I shouldn’t talk about it at all. The more I seem to talk about that, it keeps biting us in the butt. We’ve got to be better at managing the puck. That’s our downfall right now.”
Making his first start since being placed on waivers, goalie Scott Darling was, as odd as it sounds despite the score, solid in net for Carolina. There wasn’t much he could have done on any of the goals, and he came up with a handful of big saves.
In the shootout, which went six rounds, defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored for the Canes, and forwards Nicklas Backstrom and Jakub Vrana scored to win it for the Capitals. Despite his big night (two goals, two assists), the Canes did not use leading scorer Sebastian Aho in the shootout.
“We do that drill in practice every day and the same guys generally are our better guys that we keep putting out there in practice,” Brind’Amour said. “So that’s really all it was. Sometimes you just get a feel too. … It’s a specialty point for me. It doesn’t really, to be honest with you, have a lot of thought into it. I just kind of went with the flow on that one.”
Defenseman Jaccob Slavin sent the Canes to a 4-on-3 power play with 1:35 left in overtime, coming up with a steal in the neutral zone and drawing a trip in the offensive zone. The Canes, however, could not get anything going on the man advantage, sending the game to the shootout.
“I don’t know if it was indecision, we just shot it when we shouldn’t have, probably,” Brind’Amour said. “We got a couple to the net. It wasn’t done right. I take the blame on that. I’m going to change that up; it’s been too long of the same thing.”
The second period was the story of this game, a wild affair that saw the Hurricanes and Capitals combined for five total goals.
Early in the middle frame, Aho and forward Teuvo Teravainen (one goal, two assists) came up with back-to-back power-play goals to give Carolina 4-1 lead.
“It hurts,” Aho said. “We had it, but it’s one of the best teams in the world and we were right there, up 4-1. And then we lose. Again, again, again, we have to learn hard lessons and it’s just not working.”
The Caps made it a 4-2 game with a goal from forward Tom Wilson with 7:23 left in the frame, before goals from Ovechkin and forward Travis Boyd 54 seconds apart tied it at four.
The Canes were the victims of some questionable officiating on the Ovechkin goal; Capitals forward Jonas Siegenthaler knocked Hamilton down off the puck to allow Ovechkin to get open, but no call was made.
“The game turned on that play for me,” Brind’Amour said. “Then the momentum got turned; they cranked it up. We made a couple bad turnovers. We were trying to do the right thing. Both of them, the guys had it on the stick and were trying to get it in and then didn’t execute it. That’s what happens. Good teams, they just prey on that. And then it was in our net.”
About halfway through the third, Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 5-4 lead with his hat-trick goal, another one-timer from the faceoff circle.
The Canes got a gift with 6:12 left; at the tail end of a power play, Capitals goalie Braden Holtby fumbled a clearing attempt, left the puck sitting just outside the crease and Williams deposited it into the empty net to tie the game at five.
“After we scored the goal and maybe the last three minutes of the game, they were taking it to us,” Williams said. “I feel it should have been the other way around. We should have been gunning to get that next goal, not waiting to get it in overtime. I had a little sense of that. Just go for it. We need wins, and we lose it in the skills competition.”
The Canes wasted little time jumping ahead in this one; forward Jordan Martinook made it 1-0 with a wraparound goal just 47 seconds into the game.
The lead was short-lived; Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin tied the game at one 3:09 later with a patented one-timer from the right circle.
With the Capitals on a power play with six minutes and change left in the first, it was the Canes who took advantage. Teravainen got behind the Capitals’ defensemen, sprung Aho for a breakaway and Aho beat Holtby on the backhand to make it 2-1.
The Canes will continue this five-game homestand with a visit from the Arizona Coyotes Sunday, looking to move forward from another tough loss.
“I think the guys know they threw that one away in the second with the turnovers and the little things,” head coach Brind’Amour said. “I liked the fact when they got up 5-4 … I liked that we didn’t just cave in then. Because that have been really devastating, obviously. We just gave up four goals straight. But we didn’t and we just kept going. And then the shootout, it’s a tough way to lose a game. It’s a great way to win, but it leaves a sour taste in your mouth for sure. It’s a tough way to lose, but you move on.”
