Photo: @Capitals/Twitter
The Washington Capitals fell to the Carolina Hurricanes in their first shootout of the regular season by a score of 3-2 Monday night at PNC Arena. The loss dropped the Capitals’ record to 5-4-1 and 11 points. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves in the loss.
Lines & Pairs
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Marcus Johansson — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Connor McMichael
Aliaksei Protas — Lars Eller — Anthony Mantha
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Dmitry Orlov — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Erik Gustafsson — Matt Irwin
Darcy Kuemper
Notes: The team announced prior to morning skate that right-wing T.J. Oshie (lower-body) would be out indefinitely and defenseman John Carlson (lower-body) would not play against the Hurricanes as he is listed day-to-day. McMichael returned to the lineup on the right side in place of Oshie. Van Riemsdyk was elevated to the top defensive pair in place of Carlson while Irwin, who made his 2022-23 season debut, replaced van Riemsdyk on the right side of the third pairing.
Injuries: Center Nicklas Backstrom (hip), right-wing Tom Wilson (ACL), left-wing Carl Hagelin (hip), right-wing Connor Brown (lower-body), Oshie, and Carlson
Scratches: Left-wing Joe Snively
First Period
The Hurricanes took an early 1-0 lead by right-wing Stefan Noesen on the man advantage.
First career #Canes goal for Noesen!! pic.twitter.com/OyTRtk0NGX
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 31, 2022
Quick Stats
SOG: 11-5 Hurricanes
Face-Off Win %: 57% (Hurricanes), 44% (Capitals)
Hits: 9-9
Second Period
Strome (2) would tie the game, 1-1, on a quick rebound just 1:23 into the middle frame. Jensen (6) and Sheary (3) assisted.
STROMEEE off the rebound.
Tied 1-1. pic.twitter.com/UPQDRJyayu
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) November 1, 2022
Ovechkin (5) nailed a one-timer from his office to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead at the 8:57 mark on a power play. Gustafsson (3) and Kuznetsov (6) had the helpers.
𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥.𝘮𝘱4 pic.twitter.com/5FYNqPUYvp
— Washington Capitals 🎃 (@Capitals) November 1, 2022
Carolina would get one back and tie the game, 2-2, with a goal from right-wing Andrei Svechnikov at the 15:42 mark.
Hot take: don’t leave Svech unattended in the offensive zone if you’re the other team pic.twitter.com/9pUdEkAKFi
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) November 1, 2022
Quick Stats
Total SOG: 17-12 Hurricanes
Face-Off Win %: 55% (Hurricanes), 45% (Capitals)
Total Hits: 21-17 Capitals
Third Period
The final twenty minutes would go by scoreless, prompting overtime.
Quick Stats
Total SOG: 32-19 Hurricanes
Face-Off Win %: 52% (Hurricanes), 48% (Capitals)
Total Hits: 30-20 Capitals
Overtime & Shootout
Neither team could convert during overtime and headed into a shootout. The Hurricanes would win in the shootout to make it a 3-2 final score.
Notes Through the Game
- Sheary and Jensen have now recorded assists in consecutive games. It marks Jensen’s sixth assist in 10 games this season, which leads the Capitals.
- Jensen’s assist marked his 98th career point (14g, 84a), leaving him two points shy of 100 career points.
- Ovechkin recorded his 785th career goal and his NHL record 288th career power-play goal.
- Ovechkin is now 17 goals shy of passing Gordie Howe (801) for second place on the NHL’s all-time goals list and two goals shy of passing Howe’s mark for the most goals scored by a player with a single franchise (Howe: 786 goals with the Detroit Red Wings).
- Ovechkin’s goal was also the 399th goal he’s scored on the road, which trails only Wayne Gretzky (402) for the most in NHL history.
- Kuznetsov’s sixth assist of the season tied him with Jensen for the team lead.
The Capitals return to Capital One Arena for a Tuesday night tilt hosting the Vegas Golden Knights. NBC Sports Washington will have the coverage beginning at 7 PM ET.
By Della Young
McMichael had a grand total of 6:53 ice time. Why even bother. Just send his reared to Hershey and hope he learns something by actually playing.
0:00 in PP, 0:00 in PK. IN 5on5, nearest was Garnet with 9:34. He needs to play to either prove that he can or prove that he can’t. Time to move on. Send him to Hershey.
He’s gonna get sent down. His numbers for the time he did play were terrible.
For a long time NHL said Kuzy’s shootout shot was blocked. Made me think I was losing it.
Good effort considering Osh and Carlson being out but too many penalties and still behind in faceoffs. I still think Rod pays his players according to their SOG.
Waiting to see NovaCap’s stats report.
With all these injuries, the Caps take a top team to OT… thats positive… Willie coming back in a month is positive… G is playing great… whats bad is CMM playing 5 min…
Sit out Eller or Beck tomorrow and play Joe S…
And good goaltending for once!
Don’t let Carlson ever come back. Dump Eller now. Mojo is reverting to what we thought he was. Put Kuzy and Ovi back together. Have two broken lines right now. Might as well try and fix one. Try Protas at Center? Can’t do much worse on face offs. Glad we got one point.
😂 hard to argue. Gustafsson’s pass to Ovi for the power play goal was spot on.
Miracle to get a point. Could’ve easily lost 7-2. Kuemper again fantastic.
Mojo is godawful. He does almost nothing well nowadays and his compete level is low. He’s just going through the motions out there. Mojo’s gaffes are rewarded by Lavi with ice time.
Get McMichael away from Lavi fast. Do not re-sign Lavi whatever you do.
Most of the Caps played hard. The Canes are much more skilled. Caps have better goaltending.
I’ll take a point!
Mojo hasn’t been good, but I’d like to see him on first line. And with Kuzy as well. Snively-Strome-Sheary on the second. Don’t mess with third and fourth.
Irwin was a pro tonight. Luxury for us to bring him out of suit to game like that.
Are you crazy. He hasn’t been good so give him a promotion to the first line? Is this HCPL?
Yeah, it is outside the box. Just thinking about how to get that top line going. Normally, I would suggest Protas to first line, but i don’t really want to mess with third (and 4th) line. Mojo brings speed and zone entries which could help.
I was very happy with the speed and quickness of the team. It’s probably no coincidence that so many “veterans” were on the shelf. Wish Ovi would just skate in and take a slap shot from 20 ft. for the shoot out.