Washington Capitals end three-game losing streak with 3-2 win over Carolina Hurricanes
The Washington Capitals were able to end their season-high three-game losing streak by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday 24 November. The Capitals won the game by the score
of 3-2, sending Carolina to their third straight defeat.
The Capitals struggled in the three games before their meeting with the Hurricanes, dropping those games by a combined score of 15-4. The Hurricanes were also finding it difficult to get
in the win column, losing two straight games in the shootout.
Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals got the scoring started when he put the rebound from an Alex Ovechkin shot past Carolina goaltender Justin Peters. Peters, the back up goalie
for the Hurricanes, was given the start due to the fact that starting goalie, Cam Ward, had spent the night at the hospital with his wife as she prepared to give birth.
Ovechkin and Backstrom would also team up early in the second period to put Washington up 2-0. Backstrom accepted a short Ovechkin pass along the boards and skated past Carolina defenceman
Tim Gleason before firing a wrist shot into the Carolina goal.
Washington goaltender Semyon Varlamov, playing his first game with the Capitals since 21 October, lost his shutout bid at 4:04 of the third period. Varlamov, who had been out of the line
up with an injured groin, was beaten by a Sergei Samsanov redirection.
Carolina would tie the game later in the period when Eric Staal, playing in his 500th game for the Hurricanes, slipped a wrist shot by Varlamov from in close. The power play
tally was Staal’s tenth goal of the season.
The game remained tied until the 12:07 mark of the final stanza. The Capitals were five seconds into a power play when Ovechkin fired a shot from the point that was redirected by Brooks
Laich into the Hurricanes’ net. Laich’s sixth goal of the season put the Capitals ahead by a score of 3-2 and that’s where the score stood until the end of the game.
Ovechkin did not score a goal during this game, extending his season-high drought to five games. Ovechkin did assist on each of the Capitals goals, giving him 29 points for the season,
good enough for third best in the National Hockey League.
Staal, Carolina’s captain, had this about his team’s performance, “We've got to try to have a better start. We can't let a good team like that get two goals on you early in the game and
expect to win."
The win moved the Capitals to 15-6-2, putting them in first place in the Southeast Division of the Atlantic Conference. The loss drops Carolina to 9-10-2.
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