WASHINGTON (WNCN) — The Carolina Hurricanes needed extra time once again, but for the second game in a row they pulled off a win in those additional minutes.
Jaccob Slavin scored three minutes and six seconds into overtime Tuesday night in Washington, D.C. to give the Canes a 2-1 win over the Capitals.
After a scoreless first period, Washington struck early in the second. Center Aliaksei Protas found the back of the net at the 3:53 mark with assists from Brandon Duhaime and John Carlson.
But the Hurricanes, as they have often this postseason, came back to tie the game. At the 9:42 mark of the third period, Logan Sankoven scored one past Capitals goalie Logan Thompson, with Jesperi Kotkaniemi recording the assist.
Carolina now has a 1-0 lead in the second round series. Game 2 is Thursday night at Capital One Arena in Washington.
Carolina allowed Washington to get just 14 shots on goal, the second-fewest in Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes history. Frederik Andersen gave up just the early second-period goal to Protas in his return from missing the end of the first round because of injury.
“Just trying to take what comes my way and be in that moment all the time and just stay with it,” Andersen said. “You don’t know when that next big save’s going to happen.”
Thompson made 31 of them for the Capitals, who spent large swaths of time defending in their own end. That sucked a lot of the energy out of the top seed in the Eastern Conference, which is accustomed to putting on the pressure rather than absorbing it.
“We didn’t play our style of hockey,” Washington’s Dylan Strome said. “We let them dictate.”
The Capitals led from Protas’ goal until nearly the midway point of the third, when an errant pass from Protas banked off teammate Alex Alexeyev’s right skate and to Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who fed Logan Stankoven to tie it.
“I just thought I’d rip it,” Stankoven said. “It was nice to see it go in.”
Carolina remains the only team perfect on the penalty kill this postseason, keeping Washington’s power play off the board twice to improve to 17 of 17. That, along with Kotkaniemi and Stankoven taking advantage of a mistake and Slavin scoring with Seth Jarvis screening Thompson was the difference.
“We got some traffic,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously, it wasn’t the greatest of goals, but they all count.”