The Carolina Hurricanes are on the board in their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series with the Washington Capitals, and got there in dominating fashion. As the best-of-seven shifted to PNC Arena for game three, the Canes topped the Capitals 5-0 in front of a raucous, sellout crowd Monday.
Forward Warren Foegele (first career playoff goals) had two goals and an assist, and defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored two goals for the Hurricanes (1-2). Forward Brock McGinn also added his first career playoff tally. Forward Jordan Staal had two assists and led the team with 10 hits.
“That’s always the game plan,” Staal said. “You always want to play physical. It gets the crowd into it more too, so that always gets you excited. There’s probably a few more hits than the previous games but you always want to play physical against a team like that.”
Goalie Petr Mrazek was not called upon often as Carolina dominated the game, outshooting the Capitals (2-1) 45-18 and holding them to eight shots after the first period, but did his job when he was, stopping 18 shots for the shutout. Mrazek has five career playoff wins, four of them shutouts. The Canes overmatched Washington in every phase of the final two periods despite being down two forwards after the opening frame.
“I think we talked about it, I was hoping that we could just play our game,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “I didn’t think we played very well in the first two games. I think there was spurts there but it felt like right from the start it was good. … The guys understand the situation; we’re in a must-win situation. I think they played like that.”
As playoff hockey returned to Raleigh for the first time since May 26, 2009, and the Canes picked up their first playoff win since May 14, 2009, the atmosphere in the building was absolutely electric, as the sellout crowd made itself heard early and often from pregame warmups to after the final buzzer.
“It was electric; it was fun,” said captain Justin Williams. “It was exactly what it was supposed to be.”
Carolina’s special teams were phenomenal in this one, as the Canes finished 2 for 5 on the power play and 4 for 4 on the penalty kill. The Canes are now 10 for 10 on the kill since surrendering two power-play goals to Washington in the first period of game one.
“Just moving the puck quick,” Hamilton said of the power play. “I think we’ve got to still keep working on stuff. It’s obviously nice to see the pucks go in. I think that’s the biggest thing, we got traffic, and, like I said, just moving the pucks quick, trying to make them move and getting shots.”
Following a back-and-forth first 10 minutes, Foegele gave the Canes their first lead of the series, getting position in the slot and deflecting home a point shot from defenseman Justin Faulk to make it 1-0 and electrify the sellout crowd.
“I thought we were engaged from the start,” Foegele said. “We were physical and we all battled together. All 20 guys battled hard.”
The Canes had a scary moment shortly after the goal when rookie forward Andrei Svechnikov was knocked to the ice in a fight with Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin. Svechnikov’s head hit the ice after he took a punch from Ovechkin on the chin. He laid on the ice as trainers came out to look him over and then was helped to the room.
Brind’Amour did not have an update on Svechnikov after the game, but did say he had left the arena.
“Svech means a lot to us, young kid, just turned 19,” Brind’Amour said. “He has a special bond, I think, with our group and me too. So when you see that, it makes you sick. I’m still sick to my stomach about it. … I don’t know if there’s words exchanged, but one guy’s gloves come off way before, and that’s [Ovechkin]’s, it’s not our guy’s. So it’s a little bit frustrating because he got hurt. It’s his first fight; he’s played 90 games and never fought in his life. Pretty sure [Ovechkin knew that]. I’m just proud of our group to just come back and play the game.”
Forward Micheal Ferland also went to the locker room with an upper-body injury during the opening frame, and also did not return. Brind’Amour said Ferland re-aggravated a lingering concern.
The Canes were able to rally around Svechnikov’s injury and keep their foot on the gas pedal, starting with a phenomenal second period. The Canes dominated the middle period despite being down two forwards, outshooting Washington 18-1 and holding the Capitals without a shot on goal until there was 4:45 left in the period.
Foegele’s big night continued about six minutes into the middle frame; forward Sebastian Aho swerved around a diving defender and zipped a pass across the slot that Foegele buried for his second of the game to make it 2-0.
“It’s an unfortunate incident there, but that’s our brother and we stand up for each other,” Foegele said. “We knew we needed to get this win, not just for us but for him.”
Hamilton pushed Carolina’s lead to three on a power-play goal with 8:20 left in the second, snapping home a wrister from the point.
Foegele got a golden opportunity for the hat trick late in the second with a clear-cut breakaway, but Capitals goalie Braden Holtby came up with the stop.
Hamilton gave the Canes a big insurance marker with about 10 minutes left in the third period, launching a clapper from the point for his second of the game to make it 4-0. McGinn made it 5-0 with less than five minutes left.
The Hurricanes and Capitals will pick things back up with game four Thursday at PNC with a 7 p.m. puck drop, as Carolina looks to even the series. If games one through three are any indication, both teams can be expected to keep setting a physical tone.
“Every [series] is going to get nasty,” Williams said. “You’ve got to go into it expecting seven games. So you play someone over and over and over again, it’s going to get heated.”
Carolina Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek blocks Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov's shot on goal during the third game of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in PNC Arena, Monday, April 15. The Canes ended a nine year playoff drought, the longest in NHL history. The Hurricanes blew back the Capitals in a shut out, 5-0.
