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Washington Capitals dominate Carolina Hurricanes in Rookie Tournament opener

By Michael Marzzacco|
BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 16: Washington Capitals forward Garrett Pilon (40) before a preseason game on September 16, 2018, between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeated the Capitals 2-1 (SO). (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 16: Washington Capitals forward Garrett Pilon (40) before a preseason game on September 16, 2018, between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeated the Capitals 2-1 (SO). (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Washington Capitals dominated the Carolina Hurricanes with a 10-3 win at Ford Ice Center in Nashville to open up the round robin rookie tournament. Wow.

Washington Capitals prospects and rookies are in Nashville for the team’s annual prospect showcase that traditionally takes place just days before training camp.

A lot of pundits think the Capitals don’t quite have one of the best prospect pools but there were no doubts about the future after that performance against a solid Carolina Hurricanes prospect class.

The Capitals wasted no time in the early going and never looked back. Coming down the ice, Connor McMichael fed a cross-ice pass to Brian Pinho. Pinho took his time, wound up the shot and hit the back of the net to give the Capitals the early 1-0 lead.

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That would be the first of three in the second. Beck Malenstyn doubled Washington’s lead with a great play despite losing his footing driving to the net. Malenstyn followed the puck and put it in to make it 2-0. Martin Fehervary then turned on the jets and put a backhander past Hurricanes netminder Jeremy Helvig to make it 3-0.

The Capitals added to their lead in the second with three more goals. Pinho notched his second of the game, Garrett Pilon added a goal of his own and even the Herndon, VA native Joe Snively got in on the action. Pilon had a great play on a top-shelfer right by the net.

Snively’s goal but came off assists from Alex Alexeyev and Pinho. Pinho and Snively each got their third point of the game on that play which was a one-timer zip.

Aside from the explosive offense in the first two periods, top prospect Ilya Samsonov stood tall stopping 20 of the 21 shots he faced.

Things got rocky for the Capitals in the third period. The Hurricanes added two goals to cut their deficit in half including one from former Capitals prospect Chase Priskie.

The Capitals then lost center Riley Sutter for the remainder of the afternoon after he tumbled to the boards and left the game with an upper-body injury.

But Washington responded thanks to Bobby Nardella with a give-n-go with Beck Malenstyn after forcing a Hurricanes turnover to make it 7-3. Fehervary added his second goal of the game with a sharp-angle shot. Then the speed demon, Shane Gersich, had a nice coast-to-coast goal.

The Capitals added one final goal before the shootout from Kris Bindulis. 10-3 would be the final score and then the prospects partook in a shootout.

For those who don’t know, shootouts do happen at the end of each prospect tournament game. Gersich was the lone Capital who scored while Samsonov stopped all five shots he faced. Overall, Samsonov stopped 37 of 40 in regulation.

The Capitals will take on the Nashville Predators on Sunday at 2 p.m. eastern before wrapping up the tournament on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

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