Capitals Down Hurricanes 4-1; Alex Ovechkin Scores His 49th Goal Of The Season

Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals downed the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 Tuesday night at Capital One Arena. The win improves the Capitals record to 45-24-8 (98 points) on the season, and maintains the Capitals three point lead for first place in the Metropolitan Division. The same two teams will go at it again in Thursday in Raleigh. Game time is 7:00 PM.

STARTERS
Braden Holtby (28-19-5, 2.90 GAA, .909 sv%) started between the pipes for the Capitals. Petr Mrzak (20-13-3, 2.46 GAA, .911 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Hurricanes. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Hagelin-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Vrana-Eller-Connolly
Burakovsky-Dowd-Boyd

Djoos-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Jensen

Scratches: Michal Kempny (lower body), Jonas Siegenthaler, Dmitrij Jaskin and Chandler Stephenson.

FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals opened the scoring with a goal from T.J. Oshie at 16:29 of the first period. The goal was setup by a nice crossing pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov (46) and Carl Hagelin (12) were credited with the helpers.

That would be all of the scoring in the opening frame. Carolina led in shot attempts 23-16 for the first frame. Shots on goal were tied 10-10 for the first 20 minutes. The Capitals were 0 for 1 on the power play in the first period.

SECOND PERIOD
The Hurricanes would tie the game with a goal late in the middle frame from Dougie Hamilton at 15:38 of the middle frame.

THIRD PERIOD
The Capitals would retake the lead on a goal from Alex Ovechkin, his 49th of the season, at 4:31 of the final frame.

The Capitals would make it 3-1 on a redirect from John Carlson at 11:16 of the final period. The goal was setup by a beautiful slap pass from Dmitry Orlov (25). Evgeny Kuznetsov had the second assist, his third assist of the night.

Nicklas Backstrom added an empty net goal for the 4-1 win.

SHAVINGS

Evgeny Kuznetsov had three assists.
Alex Ovechkin scored the 656th regular-season goal of his NHL career to tie Brendan Shanahan for 13th place on the League’s all-time list.
With an assist on Backstrom’s goal, he has 400 career points (90g, 310a).
T.J. Oshie’s goal in the first period was his 100th goal with the Capitals.
The Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals (45-24-8, 98 points) moved within two points of reaching 100 for the fifth consecutive season and 12th time in franchise history.
The NHL box score is here.

SCENES FROM THE DISTRICT