Washington Capitals Down Carolina Hurricanes 4-1

In what could be a first round matchup in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Washington Capitals defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena.

The win, as well as an Islanders loss to the Blue Jackets, gave the Washington Capitals some separation in the Metropolitan Division standings. The Capitals record improves to 45-24-8 with 98 points, three points ahead of both the Islanders and Penguins. The Capitals have won each game of the season series against the Carolina Hurricanes and will go for the regular season sweep on Thursday night.

Capitals fans received an Evgeny Kuznetsov bird celebration bobblehead and Kuzy was certainly the star of the show. He had three assists in 19:17 of play.

The Capitals broke through at 16:29 of the first period when Kunetsov dished an incredible pass to T.J. Oshie for the one-timer blast for Oshie’s 23rd of the season. Carl Hagelin, who was promoted to the second line, had the secondary assist for his fourth point in his last five games (one goal, three assists). 1-0 would be the score entering the first intermission with shots even at 10 apiece.

The Hurricanes tied it late in the second period at 15:38 on a delayed penalty, goalie-pulled, extra attacker goal from Dougie Hamilton that was assisted by former Capital Justin Williams. 1-1 would be the score after 40 minutes. Washington outshot Carolina 11-7 in the second period.

The Capitals took the lead at 4:31 with a one-timer blast from Alex Ovechkin for his 49th goal of the season, leading the NHL. First Kuznetsov fed Tom Wilson down the ice, then Wilson dished a cross-ice pass to Ovechkin.

The Capitals added to their lead at 11:16 to make it 3-1 when Kuznetsov got the puck to Dmitry Orlov. Orlov used a slap pass to John Carlson, who was in front of the net. Carlson put it in for his 13th goal of the season. The goal was Carlon’s 400th career point.

Nicklas Backstrom added an empty net goal at 17:33 for his 19th of the season to make it 4-1. That would go on to be the final. The Hurricanes, like their opponents the last period, outshot the Capitals 11-7 in the third to finish the night with an even 28 shots among both teams. The

Braden Holtby got the win, his second in a row, stopping 27-of-28 shots he faced for a .964 save percentage.

The Capitals and Hurricanes meet again on Thursday night. This time in Raleigh where the Capitals hope to see no signs of a storm surge. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.