Home cooking remains undefeated in the Carolina Hurricanes’ first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Washington Capitals. Needing a win to stave off elimination in game six at PNC Arena Monday, the Canes got exactly that, topping Washington 5-2 in front of a sellout crowd to force a winner-take-all game seven in DC Wednesday night.
The teams entered the third period deadlocked at two, but forward Jordan Staal scored early to give the Hurricanes the lead, forward Justin Williams gave the team an insurance marker with his first of the series with about eight minutes left and defenseman Dougie Hamilton sealed things with an empty-net goal. Forwards Teuvo Teravainen and Warren Foegele also scored against Washington.
The Canes have needed more from their top players in this series and got that in a do-or-die situation in game six.
“That’s the recipe,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Obviously, it’s not that easy, but we’ve said it along, your best players have to be your best players, all year, but in the playoffs especially. Those guys obviously contributed and had big games.”
Goalie Petr Mrazek was a rock in net again, stopping 23 of 25 Capitals shots and making several timely saves. He was particularly impressive in the decisive third period, holding Washington off the score sheet with 11 saves on 11 shots as the Canes kept their season alive.
“I felt great in that third period,” Mrazek said. “I didn’t see many shots the first seven or eight minutes but they were pushing and trying to create some chances. The guys around me did an outstanding job making sure I could see the puck well.”
The Hurricanes took their first lead of the game less than four minutes into the third period; after Holtby stopped a point shot from Canes defenseman Justin Faulk, Staal, who also had an assist in the contest, won a battle for position in the crease and swept in a backhand to put Carolina up 3-2.
“I thought we kind of just stuck with it,” Staal said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of chances going either way. But they’re a team that grinds and I thought we did the same. We were fortunate with a quick shot with [Faulk] and I was just trying to track and honestly just a get a piece of it. I was fortunate enough that it went in.”
The Capitals thought they had tied the game at three with nine minutes and change left to play as Ovechkin poked a puck in, but the referees ruled the whistle had blown first after Mrazek covered the puck. The NHL’s situation room in Toronto took a brief look at the play but determined that Ovechkin interfered with Mrazek and upheld the call of no goal.
Williams gave the Canes some insurance shortly after with 8:02 left, as defenseman Brett Pesce snapped a shot from the blue line that Carolina’s captain tipped past Holtby to make it 4-2.
“We’ve answered the bell,” Williams said. “I said from the start of the series, if they’re going to knock us out, we’re not going to let it be easy on them. Let’s go play another game.”
The Capitals pulled Holtby with over three minutes left, but Hamilton iced the game with his empty netter less than 10 seconds later. Ovechkin was ejected late in the game for mocking the officials after he was called for slashing.
The Capitals took a 1-0 lead just over five minutes into the game; Washington forward Brett Connolly took a pass from forward Lars Eller behind the net, powered his way to the front of the net and snapped a shot over Mrazek.
The Canes tied it up a little over halfway through the period. Directly after a power play expired, defenseman Jaccob Slavin made a heads-up play to keep the puck in the zone, defenseman Dougie Hamilton’s shot was blocked and Foegele gathered a loose puck in the high slot and snapped it past Holtby for his fourth of the series.
“It’s just sticking with it,” Pesce said. “We give up one, we expect to get the next one, the next two. Hockey’s a game of mistakes. You’ve got to pick your teammates up. I think we do a good job of that.”
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin put Washington back up by one with about five minutes left in the first, dangling around a diving sweep check by Slavin at the right circle and snapping a shot home.
Carolina wasted little time tying things up in the second period. Less than two minutes into the middle frame, Canes forward Sebastian Aho came up with a steal behind the net and fed Teravainen between the circles, who zipped a shot past Holtby to make it 2-2.
With their backs against the wall, the Canes came through to force a decisive game for the series. They’ve already done something neither team has done in this series by winning game six despite not scoring first.
Now, they’ll have to do that again in being the first to win on the road as the best-of-seven set shifts back to Capital One Arena for a winner-take-all finale.
“There’s no tomorrow,” Brind’Amour said. “Chris Huffine, our video coach told me that today. Having a tomorrow sometimes is a disadvantage. We didn’t have a tomorrow so you lay it all on the line. … It was our advantage tonight knowing we didn’t have that. Now both teams don’t have it, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Center Jordan Staal celebrates his goal to give Carolina the upper-hand against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Washington Capitals, in PNC Arena, Monday, April 22. Staal had one goal and one assist across two points and 27 shifts. The Canes tied up the series with a 5-2 victory during game six.
