RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN/AP) — In front of a raucous home crowd, the Carolina Hurricanes bounced back after a Game 2 loss with a vengeance.
Jackson Blake, Eric Robinson, Jack Roslovic and Andrei Svechnikov all scored for the Canes as they blanked the Washington Capitals 4-0 Saturday in Game 3 at the Lenovo Center. Carolina now has a 2-1 lead in the second round playoff series.
Goalie Frederik Andersen had 21 saves on the night to earn his first career playoff shutout.
Svechnikov’s unassisted goal with 12:34 gone in the second period opened up the scoring. Roslovic, assisted by Brent Burns and Taylor Hall, then scored on a power play just over six minutes later to give the Canes a 2-0 lead.
Then just over three minutes into the third, Robinson found the back of the net, with Roslovic and Logan Stankoven recording assists. With the game in hand, Blake added a power play goal with less than four minutes left in the contest. Seth Jarvis and Shayne Gostibehere had the assists on the final scoring play.
The Hurricanes dominated play in the series opener but needed Jaccob Slavin’s overtime goal to push through on the road. The Capitals did a better job of countering in Game 2 and tied the series behind a strong two-way effort from Tom Wilson.
The Capitals seemingly had reversed the script on Carolina with a strong start, which included Andersen having to stand up to an immediate skating-in chance by Wilson and an early shot from Taylor Raddysh while the Hurricanes struggled to get on their aggressive game.
And Andersen was strong throughout — carrying the load until the Hurricanes finally asserted control once Svechnikov broke the scoreless tie. In fact, Washington managed just one shot through 14 critical minutes of the second, spanning Svechnikov’s score and before to Roslovic’s man-advantage finish.
Logan Thompson finished with 24 saves for Washington, while the Capitals managed just 10 shots in the final 39+ minutes.
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Monday night in Raleigh.