Andre Svechnikov scored his eighth goal of the season to even the score in the second period, and then won the game with a goal on the teams’ second attempt in the shootout to lift Carolina to a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Monday at PNC Arena.
Stefan Noesen also scored in regulation for the Hurricanes (6-2-1), and Brent Burns added a shootout marker on the team’s first attempt.
Dylan Strome and Ovechkin scored in regulation for the Capitals. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored in the shootout for the Caps, but Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen stuffed Ovechkin and Strome to preserve the win.
Here are some quick takeaways from the Hurricanes’ win:
— Halloween nightmare moment for a goalie: the Caps’ Ovechkin getting the puck on an odd-man rush into the zone. The Canes’ Frederik Andersen did get a piece of the shot on the first-period play.
— Bigger Halloween nightmare moment: Ovechkin loading up a power-play shot from the left circle on the power play. No. 8 didn’t miss in the second period, scoring career No. 785 in the second.
— Make it eight goals in nine games for the Canes’ Svechnikov. No. 37 had an open net in the second and he didn’t miss, either. Only Edmonton’s Connor McDavid has more goals this season with nine than Svechnikov.
— At times, it didn’t seem like a Canes-Caps game with John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie and Tom Wilson all out for Washington. Same kind of grinding, big-boy hockey game, though.
— Noesen has replaced Nino Niederreiter on the power play and been a disrupter around the net. Noesen, active all night, had a “Nino-like” goal in the first, getting a piece of a Burns shot from the point for a power-play goal and 1-0 lead.
— Let’s all say it again: Defenseman Jaccob Slavin does so many things well in a game for the Canes. His stick work and positioning are elite. His sliding block on a Caps power play in the third period, with Andersen out of the net, keyed the penalty kill and kept it a 2-2 game.
— Always good seeing Peter Laviolette in PNC Arena. The Caps coach was on the other bench on that special night in 2006 and has his name on the Stanley Cup with the Canes’ 2006 champions.
— The next time the Caps are in town to play the Canes, they’ll play it outside. That will be Feb. 18 in the NHL Stadium Series outdoor game at Carter-Finley Stadium.
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