Caps Cane Carolina 4-3 (SO)

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Jon Sorensen
caps-canes-capitals-canes
James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

The Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in a shootout Friday night at PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC. The win raised the Capitals record to 19-7-3. The Capitals next host the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night at Verizon Center. Puck drop is 7:00PM. 

capitals-at-hurricanesAndre Burakovsky and Taylor Chorney were the healthy scratches. This was Burakovsky’s second straight game in which he was a healthy scratch.

Philipp Grubauer got the start in goal for the Capitals. Cam Ward got the start for the Hurricanes.

News broke Friday evening that Zach Sanford was scratched in the Bear’s game, and was on his way back to Washington. He will be officially recalled Saturday morning.

QUICK TAKES

  • The Canes won 12 of 15 faceoffs in the first period.
  • The Capitals power play continues to heat-up as the Caps scored on the league’s top penalty kill in the second period. The power play goal was the first allowed by the Canes PK in eight games.
  • The Capitals penalty kill continues to be strong.
  • Justin Williams continues his hot streak with a goal. He has five goals in the last five games.
  • Evgeny continues to heat up, extending his point streak to six-games (eight points during that span).
  • At times, Carolina’s speed was obviously too much for the Caps.

FIRST PERIOD
A quick pace to the start of this one, with fairly even 5-on-5 play through the first five minutes of play. The Canes would be the first to light the lamp at the 5:46 mark on a close range goal by Jeff Skinner.

The Capitals would go on the power play at the 6:41 mark. The Capitals would have decent zone time, but were unable to move the puck inside the perimeter, and ultimately came up empty. The Canes had the league’s best penalty kill coming into the game.

The Canes would get their first power play at 16:12 when Brooks Orpik was called for hooking. The Canes mounted several excellent scoring chances but were unable to finish. The Canes were 4 of 5 on their last 5 power plays coming into the game. The period would end with the Canes leading 1-0. Canes led in shots on goal 9-5 for the opening frame. The Canes won 12 of 15 faceoffs in the period.

SECOND PERIOD
The Canes would go on an early penalty kill when Matt Niskanen was forced to hold to stop a potential Canes break away, just 20 seconds into the middle frame, but the Caps would successfully squash the Canes second man advantage of the game. The Caps would go to their second power play of the game at the 5:16 mark of the middle frame, and the Caps would cash in. Nicklas Backstrom would feed Alex Ovechkin on an odd-man rush, for Ovechkin’s 201st career power play goal at the 6:25 mark of the middle frame.

Matt Niskanen would be called for his second penalty of the period at the 7:18 mark of the middle frame, giving the Canes their third power play of the game. Nate Schmidt would be called for hooking, giving the Canes a 5-on-3 for 38 seconds. The Caps penalty kill would successfully fend-off both the 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 man advantages for the Canes. Justin Williams would give the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 11:13 of the middle frame on the end of a nifty feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov.

The Canes would tie it up with a speed goal at 13:31 by Justin Faulk.

faulk-ezgif-com-video-to-gif

The period would end in a 2-2 tie. Shots on goal for the period were tied 9-9. The Canes led in shots on goal 18-14 after two periods of play.

THIRD PERIOD
Nicklas Backstrom was called for holding just 32 seconds into the period and the Canes would waste no time taking the lead. Teuvo Teravainen would knock one home 40 seconds into the final frame.

teavu-ezgif-com-video-to-gif

TJ Oshie would tie the game 3-3 at the 13:56 mark, on a tip of a blast by Dmitry Orlov.

Regulation would end with the game tied 3-3. The Canes led in shots on goal 25-23 through three periods of play.

OVERTIME
The 3-on-3 overtime period would go scoreless. The Capitals would win it in the shootout. TJ Oshie and Evgen Kuznetsov would score the winners:

 

By Jon Sorensen

SCENES FROM RALEIGH

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.
This entry was posted in News and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Caps Cane Carolina 4-3 (SO)

  1. Pingback: Game Preview: Canadiens @ Capitals | NoVa Caps

  2. Pingback: Capitals Daily Update: Sanford Joins the Team in Optional Morning Skate | NoVa Caps

  3. Pingback: The Offensive Minds of the New Defensive Pairings | NoVa Caps

  4. Pingback: Game Preview: Hurricanes @ Capitals | NoVa Caps

  5. Pingback: Shootout Struggles: What’s Going On? | NoVa Caps

Leave a Reply