Photo: Gregg Forweck/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 3-2 on Thursday night for their third straight victory and to finish the sweep the home-and-home series after defeating the Hurricanes by a score of 4-1 on home-ice on Tuesday. The win earned the Capitals a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fifth consecutive season and​ extended their lead to five points over the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division. Goaltender Braden Holtby made 24 saves in the victory.

Capitals Lines at Hurricanes

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Oshie under the weather. Burky takes his spot. #CapsCanes #ALLCAPS

A post shared by NoVa Caps (@nova_caps) on Mar 28, 2019 at 3:56pm PDT

Forward T.J. Oshie missed the game due to an illness. Forward Andre Burakovsky took his spot on the second line. Forward Chandler Stephenson drew into the lineup on the fourth-line.

First Period

Forward Nino Niederreiter tucked in his own rebound that went off of the post into a wide-open net to give Carolina the 1-0 lead 4:31 into the game.

Forward Brett Connolly responded 42 seconds later, toe-dragging around Hurricanes defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk and picking the corner on goaltender Curtis McElhinney after getting a pass from defenseman Brooks Orpik in the defensive zone to tie it.

Clearly @bconnolly8 got the message — only nice goals in Carolina tonight. pic.twitter.com/5vXYtqPONk

— NHL (@NHL) March 28, 2019

The Capitals led 7-5 in shots and 4-3 in blocked shots after one.

The Hurricanes led 10-6 in hits, 5-4 in takeaways, and had two giveaways while the Caps had three in the first. They won 56% of the faceoffs in the opening 20 minutes.

Second Period

Forward Warren Foegle made it 2-1 Carolina 11:30 into the period, toe-dragging around defenseman Nick Jensen and beating goaltender Braden Holtby with a wide open net to shoot at.

The Capitals led 8-7 in blocked shots and 11-8 in takeaways after two. They went 0-for-1 on the power-play in the first two periods.

The Hurricanes led 11-9 in second-period shots, 20-10 in hits, and won 68% of the faceoffs through 40 minutes of play.

Each team posted 16 shots and six giveaways through two.

Third Period

Forward Jakub Vrana opened up the five-hole of McElhinney on a breakaway after getting a stretch pass from center Evgeny Kuznetsov to tie the game 1:35 into the third.

Huge goal. #ALLCAPS #CapsCanes pic.twitter.com/D8OjkTOjDg

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 29, 2019

Center Nic Dowd redirected Jensen’s shot from the point in front of McElhinney to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead with 4:56 left in regulation.

NIC DOWD. CLUTCH. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/Acs0F20GuE

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 29, 2019

The Capitals led 13-10 in blocked shots and 13-12 in takeaways. They had nine giveaways while Carolina had 10.

The Hurricanes led 26-20 in shots, including 10-4 in the third period, 25-19 in hits, and won 61% of the faceoffs.

Each team went 0-for-1 on the power-play.

The Capitals continue their road-trip through the Southeast region when they visit the Presidents’ Trophy winners in the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. Action from Amalie Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington locally or NHL Network for those outside the DMV beginning at 7 PM ET.

By Harrison Brown