Photo: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals fell to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 (2OT) in Game 7 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.The Hurricanes win gives them a 4-3 series win, and will advance to face the New York Islanders in round 2 of the playoffs.

STARTERS
Braden Holtby (3-3, 2.68 GAA, .916 sv%) got the start in goal for the Capitals. Petr Mrazek (3-3, 2.67 GAA, .895 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Hurricanes. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Hagelin
Burakovsky-Eller-Connolly
Stephenson-Dowd-DSP

Siegenthaler-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Jensen

Scratches: Dmitrij Jaskin, Travis Boyd and Christian Djoos.

FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals opened the scoring with a beautiful goal from Andre Burakovsky just 2:13 into the contest. The goal was unassisted.

The Capitals would quickly stretch the lead to 2-0 with a goal from Tom Wilson. The score was setup by a nice play from Alex Ovechkin.

The first period would end with the Capitals holding a 2-0 lead. The Capitals lead in shot attempts 18-15, but trailed in shots on goal 11-10 for the first period. Both teams were 0 for 1 on the power play in the opening frame.

SECOND PERIOD
The Hurricanes would close the gap to a single goal with a short-handed goal from Sebastian Aho at 9:51 of the middle frame.

But the Capitals would quickly answer with a goal from Evgeny Kuznetsov at 13:22, restoring the Capitals two goal lead.

However, the Canes would answer once again. Teuvo Teravainen would pot the second Canes goal at 16:37 of the middle frame.

The second period would expire with the Capital leading 3-2. Shot attempts were 15-15 for the middle frame, and shots on goal tied 9-9. The Capitals were 0 for 2 and the Hurricanes 0 for 1 on the power play after 40 minutes.

Shots on goal were tied 19-19 after two periods, with the Capitals leading in shot attempts 34-30 after 40 minutes. Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jonas Siegenthaler lead the Caps in shots with 3.

THIRD PERIOD
The Hurricanes would quickly tie the game with a goal from Jordan Staal 2:45 into the final frame.

And that would be all of the scoring in the final frame. Regulation would end tied 3-3.

OVERTIME
After a scoreless first overtime period in which the Hurricanes dominated possession and shots, the Canes would win it at the 31:05 mark of overtime.

SHAVINGS

• Andre Burakovsky scored the second-fastest goal to start a Game 7 in  Capitals history (2:13), behind only the mark set by Alex Ovechkin in the 2018 Conference Finals (1:02).
• Alex Ovechkin collected his fourth career assist in a Game 7 (4-4—8 in 12 GP) and tied Greg Adams (0-4—4 in 3 GP) for the most in Capitals history.
• The NHL box score for the game is here.

SCENES FROM THE DISTRICT

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