Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images

The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 4-2 at PNC Arena in Raleigh on Thursday night. The loss dropped the Capitals record to 28-7-2, and ended Washington’s winning streak at nine games.  The win improved the ‘Canes record to 16-17-5.  The Capitals will return to action Saturday in Columbus.

Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images

The starting lines for the Capitals:

Offensive lines:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Sill-Wilson
Laich-Latta-Burakovsky

Defensive Pairs:
Alzner-Niskanen
Schmidt-Orlov
Chorney-Carrick

Jay Beagle missed the game due to an upper body injury he sustained in last nights game against the Buffalo Sabres.  John Carlson missed his third game since sustaining a lower body injury against Montreal last Saturday. Brooks Orpik missed his 24th straight game since sustaining a lower body injury in Detroit on November 10th. Stanislav Galiev was a healthy scratch. Aaron Ness was recalled from Hershey today, and was a healthy scratch for this game.  The goalie match-up for tonight’s game, provided by @CapsGoalies:

QUICK TAKES
The Capitals were able to survive a rather lackluster first period, as Philipp Grubauer made several nice stops to keep the period scoreless.  The Capitals would not get a power play in this game.  Th Hurricanes outshot the Capitals 37-32 for the game. Game stats can be found here:  Players stats for the game can be found here: Face-off summy for the game can be found here:

A rather quiet opening fifteen minutes to this one, consisting of nothing but five-on-five play.  Philipp Grubauer was strong in net, making several nice saves in the early going.

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Scoring chances for both sides were few and far between.  Evgeny Kuznetsov was called for the game’s first penalty for hooking at the 15:31 mark.  The Caps were able to escape without giving up a goal, as Carolina had several nice chances, one shot hitting the post, during the man advantage.  The first period would end scoreless, with the Hurricanes leading in shots on goal, 11-8.

The Hurricanes opened the second period with a significant advantage in offensive zone time through the first five minutes of the middle frame. Dmitry Orlov was called for contact to the head at 4:16, giving the Hurricanes their second power play of the game. The Caps were able to successfully stifle the ‘Canes power play, keeping the game scoreless.  The ‘Canes would get on the scoreboard on a nice feed to Phillip Di Giuseppe at 7:48 of the second period.

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Nicklas Backstrom would tie the game on a wrister from the point at 9:49 of the middle frame.  T.J. Oshie did a great job of keeping the play alive with fancy footwork and feeding Backstrom for the nifty wrister.

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The Caps seemed to gather some energy from the Backstrom goal, stepping up the shots on goal, and withstanding a third Carolina power play (Wilson again).  The Canes led in SOG 26-21 for the first two periods.

Caps Nation celebrates Backstrom goal. (Photo: @CanucksFin56 )

The Hurricanes started the third period with a quick flurry of action that resulted in a go-ahead goal for the ‘Canes by Eric Staal at the 0:51 mark of the final frame.  The goal was originally waived off, but at the stoppage of play, it was reviewed and ruled a goal.

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The ‘Canes would stretch the lead to 3-1 when Jeff Skinner knocked one in at 5:16 of the final frame.

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Alex Ovechkin would close the gap to 3-2 at the 14:50 mark of the final period.

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The ‘Canes would add an empty net goal to seal the win for Carolina 4-2, and snap the Caps winning streak at nine games.