Photo: Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals won in overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes by a 5-4 count in the first meeting of the season between the two. The Capitals were coming off of a 5-2 victory against the New Jersey Devils. Justin Williams faced his former team for the first time. The Capitals and Hurricanes will play a set of back-to-back games on Thursday in Washington and Friday in Raleigh next week. 

Capitals’ Lines vs. the Carolina Hurricanes

#Caps lines in Carolina:
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 25-Smith-Pelly
13-Vrana, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
10-Connolly, 20-Eller, 43-Wilson
18-Stephenson, 83-Beagle, 39-Chiasson

Defensemen
29-Djoos, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 4-Chorney
44-Orpik, 22-Bowey

Holtby vs Ward #CapsCanes

— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) January 2, 2018

First Period

Scoring: Carolina’s Victor Rask drew first blood off a miscue from John Carlson at 5:21. Carlson tried a pass to Christian Djoos but whiffed and Rask put the puck past Braden Holtby for a 1-0 Carolina lead. The goal was Rask’s 9th of the year.

Alex Chiasson answered just 1:18 later when Chandler Stephenson banked the puck off of the wall to himself and got around the Hurricanes’ back checker. He found Chiasson on a beautiful cross-ice pass to beat Cam Ward to tie the game at one.

Chaser knockin at the back door! #CapsCanes #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/hm85k3qJTk

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 3, 2018

Devante Smith-Pelly made it 2-1 Capitals, sniping it far side past Ward. The shot went right by Ward’s blocker at 12:53 after taking a pass from Jay Beagle in the neutral zone. With the goal, he matched his goal total last season when he played in 53 games with the Devils.

DSP with all the space! #CapsCanes #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/hTND3NM3fx

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 3, 2018

The Good:  The Capitals led 16-6 in hits and 4-1 in blocked shots. The Caps had a great response after Carolina struck first. The Capitals killed off their lone penalty of the period.

The Bad: Carolina led 9-3 in takeaways and 13-7 in shots.

The Ugly: Carlson had a horrific turnover right in front of Holtby that led to Rask’s goal and a 1-0 lead for Carolina. Carolina crushed the Capitals at the faceoff dot, winning 75% percent of the faceoffs in the period.

Second Period

Scoring: Dmitry Orlov scored to make it 3-1 after taking his own bank shot from off the wall. He speeds through three-quarters of the ice to add to the Caps’ lead at 8:48 of the middle frame.

Hard in the paint @orlov_09 #CapsCanes #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/zHB3dKW4jM

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 3, 2018

Victor Rask struck for his second goal of the game on the power play. Rask sniped it from the slot after taking a feed from Jeff Skinner to cut the Capitals’ lead to 3-2 11:15 into the second period. Justin Williams tallied an assist against his former club.

The Good: The Capitals only had four giveaways, while Carolina had 13 and led 20-15 in hits through two periods of play. Orlov’s goal marked the fourth goal by a Capitals’ defenseman in the past two games.

The Bad: Carolina won 58% of the faceoffs and led 15-7 in takeaways through 40 minutes.

The Ugly: Evgeny Kuznetsov’s cross-checking penalty gave Carolina a power play goal and cost the Capitals some breathing room. Kuznetsov’s 26 penalty minutes rank the fourth highest on the team.

Third Period

Scoring: Elias Lindholm tied the game at three at 5:40 after Derek Ryan stripped the puck from Taylor Chorney behind the goal line. Ryan feed Lindholm in front of the net and Lindholm pounced one past Holtby to tie the game at three.

Just a little over a minute later, Carolina took the lead 4-3 after Sebastian Aho took the puck from Madison Bowey in the Caps’ defensive zone. Teuvo Teravainen’s shot deflected off of the stanchion, took a crazy bounce to the net, and was knocked in by Brooks Orpik for the goal.

Alex Ovechkin tied it down low with 7:15 left in regulation with his 25th goal of the year. He beat Ward going forehand to backhand after taking a feed from Nicklas Backstrom in the slot. Hurricanes’ defenseman Jaccob Slavin turned it over in front of his own net and Ovechkin made him pay.

👣→🏒!!! #CapsCanes #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/SQzHcIFyCR

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 3, 2018

The Good: The Capitals led 25-20 in hits and 14-9 in blocked shots. Carolina led in giveaways 22-10. Alex Ovechkin’s goal got the Capitals back in the game and took away any Carolina momentum from those two goals early in the period.

The Bad: Carolina outshot Washington 16-11 in the final frame and 37-25 in regulation. The Hurricanes had 22 takeaways to the Capitals’ 10.

The Ugly: Evgeny Kuznetsov took his second penalty of the game for slashing 1:07 into the period. The Capitals didn’t have a shot in the first five minutes of the period. The Capitals coughed up a two-goal lead after allowing two goals 1:24 apart.

The game would go to overtime for the sixth time in the past eight games for the Capitals.

Overtime

Alex Ovechkin won it for the Capitals after taking a feed from Backstrom in the neutral zone. Ovechkin faked a shot against Slavin and then roofed it to the top left corner past Ward. The game-winner was Ovechkin’s 22nd career OTGWG, an all-time NHL record, and the goal was his league-leading 26th goal of the season. It was also his 100th career game-winning goal.

.@ovi8 does it again! Another @EASPORTSNHL 3-on-3 winner! #CapsCanes #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/uZmeq5AD70

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 3, 2018

Braden Holtby made 34 saves on 38 shots for the Capitals.

Game Stats

Shots:                         Capitals – 26                     Hurricanes – 38

Hits:                            Capitals – 25                     Hurricanes – 20

Blocked Shots:          Capitals – 14                     Hurricanes – 10

Power Play:              Capitals – 0/2                     Hurricanes – 1/4

Up Next

The Capitals come back home to kick off a short three-game homestand against the St. Louis Blues, who will be playing the second half of a back-to-back on Sunday. Before coming to Washington, the Blues host the New Jersey Devils and Vegas Golden Knights and visit the Philadelphia Flyers. After a hot start to the year, the Blues have just won three of their past 10 games. The meeting will be the first of the year between the Caps and Blues. The game will be televised on NBC Sports Washington at 3:00.

By Harrison Brown