Carolina Hurricanes v. Washington Capitals
Capitals Lead 1-0
Game Recap:
Going into Game Two the Washington Capitals need to have a much better start to their game, and generate some scoring opportunities. And that they did as they would play with a much better pace to their game, and would create some really good chances in the Hurricanes zone. Less than four minutes into the game, it would be Alex Ovechkin feeding a really beautiful pass to Nicklas Backstrom for his third of the playoffs, and give the Capitals the 1-0 lead. Then after a failed powerplay attempt, it would be TJ Oshie with an amazing one-legged effort to score his first of the playoffs for a 2-0 lead. Then on a hard working shift for the Hurricanes, Lucas Wallmark would tip a Jaccob Slavin point shot to cut the Capitals lead to one. The Capitals would challenge for goalie interfernce, but it was ill advised as there was never any interference to Braden Holtby on the play. Alex Ovechkin would take an elbowing penalty, but the Capitals would kill off the penalty to finish the period.
In the second period we would see a very undisciplined game from both teams starting with Micheal Ferland taking an offensive zone penalty, then Ferland again would take another penalty that would end his game for the day as he would receive a match penalty for illegal contact to Nic Dowd’s head, which also had Warren Foegele hook and high stick Dowd on the play with no calls made, but with some debate. While yes Ferland did in fact make contact with Dowd’s head (see tweet below), it doesn’t look like he went in with the intention to hurt Dowd. From the perspective of how the play unfolds, Dowd loses possession of the puck and is reaching to regain possession, while at the same time Ferland has already committed to the hit. Dowd is in a vulnerable position yes, but it does not look like Ferland’s intention was to hit the head, but due to Dowd’s posture, the head became the point of contact. Definitely a tough call to make.
While on the Capitals five minute powerplay, they would not generate anything of substance. Also it would end prematurely as TJ Oshie would be called for hooking. Then the Capitals would go down two men when Dowd would be called for high sticking. While the Capitals were down, they were able to successfully kill both penalties. Then after another failed powerplay for the Capitals, Sebastian Aho would score to tie the game for the Hurricanes late in the period.
Going into the third the Hurricanes would start off with some really solid chances, but Braden Holtby would stand tall in net. Then near the halfway point of the period Alex Ovechkin would feed Tom Wilson with the pass as he would blast it Petr Mrazek to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead. Then on a powerplay off of a Nic Dowd high sticking call, Jordan Staal would deflect a Dougie Hamilton point shot to tie the game at three a piece. The Capitals would get a couple chances before the end of the period, but Mrazek would holdnhis own and force overtime for the first time in this series.
Going into overtime the Capitals would only need a little less than two minutes to close out this game and take a 2-0 series lead as Evgeny Kuznetsov would make a really crisp pass to Brooks Orpik who bombs it past Mrazek to win the game 4-3.
Lineups:
Carolina Hurricanes:
Nino Niederreiter — Sebastian Aho — Justin Williams
Micheal Ferland — Jordan Staal –Teuvo Teravainen
Andrei Svechnikov — Jordan Martinook — Brock McGinn
Saku Maenalanen — Lucas Wallmark — Warren Foegele
Jaccob Slavin — Dougie Hamilton
Brett Pesce — Justin Faulk
Haydn Fleury — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Petr Mrazek
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Greg McKegg, Jake Bean
Injured: Calvin de Haan (upper body)
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson
Carl Hagelin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly
Andre Burakovsky — Nic Dowd — Chandler Stephenson
John Carlson — Nick Jensen
Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik — Christian Djoos
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Jonas Siegenthaler, Travis Boyd, Dmitrij Jaskin, Ilya Samsonov
Injured: Michal Kempny (torn left hamstring)
First Period:
Capitals Goal – 3:37 – Nicklas Backstrom (3) from Alex Ovechkin (1) and Dmitry Orlov (1)
Hurricanes Penalty – 4:52 – Trevor van Riemsdyk 2 minutes for Slashing
Capitals Goal – 9:26 – TJ Oshie (1) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (2) and Matt Niskanen (1)
Capitals Penalty – 10:32 – Brett Connolly 2 minutes for Interference
Hurricanes Goal – 15:54 – Lucas Wallmark (1) from Jaccob Slavin (1) amd Warren Foegele (1)
Capitals Penalty – 16:24 – Alex Ovechkin 2 minutes for Elbowing
End of 1st – CAR – 1 WAS – 2
Shots 12 07
Faceoffs 10 06
Hits 08 16
PP 0/2 0/1
Second Period:
Hurricanes Penalty – 1:11 – Micheal Ferland 2 minutes for Hooking
Hurricanes Penalty – 4:09 – Micheal Ferland Match penalty for Illegal Contact to Head
Capitals Penalty – 8:18 – TJ Oshie 2 minutes Hooking
Capitals Penalty – 9:11 -Nic Dowd 2 minutes for High Sticking
Hurricanes Penalty – 11:36 – Dougie Hamilton 2 minutes for Elbowing
Hurricanes Goal – 16:49 – Sebastian Aho (1) from Justin Williams (1) and Jaccob Slavin (2)
End of 2nd – CAR – 2 WAS – 2
Shots 18 23
Faceoffs 22 14
Hits 14 24
PP 0/4 0/4
Third Period:
Capitals Goal – 8:55 – Tom Wilson (1) from Alex Ovechkin (2) and Nicklas Backstrom (1)
Capitals Penalty – 14:24 – Nic Dowd 2 minutes for High Sticking
Hurricanes PPG – 15:00 – Jordan Staal (1) from Dougie Hamilton (2) and Andrei Svechnikov (1)
End of 3rd – CAR – 3 WAS – 3
Shots 28 32
Faceoffs 39 22
Hits 22 33
PP 1/5 0/4
Overtime:
Capitals Goal – 1:42 – Brooks Orpik (1) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (3) and Jakub Vrana (1)
End of OT – CAR – 3 WAS – 3
Shots 28 33
Faceoffs 39 23
Hits 22 34
PP 1/5 0/4
Next Up:
Game Three – Capitals Leads Series 2-0
Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.
