Capitals rally to stun Hurricanes in shootout
PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina was a house of horror for the Washington Capitals three short years ago but on Friday night Caps fans took over the building. The team fed off that and put together a rally to force overtime then win in the shootout.
Everything about this was payback and hopefully payback later this spring. Everything from Alex Ovechkin ending the game and putting his ear out to hear the crowd to the Capitals social media intern retweeting the Hurricanes tweet “this place is LOUD!”. Any chance you get to troll the bunch of jerks, you take it.
Seth Jarvis put the Canes up at 5:17. Then things got weird. Evgeny Kuznetsov got a weird bounce on a sharp angle shot at 7:32 for his 21st of the season. At 10:45 the Caps took the lead on a set up from Connor McMichael to John Carlson with Garnet Hathaway providing the secondary assist for Carly’s 11th of the season.
2-1 was the score after 20 with the Caps leading in shots 14-6. The Hurricanes took the lead back in the second period. Vincent Trocheck tied it at 7:06 and Jarvis scored his second of the night at 19:47. 3-2 Hurricanes was the score after two while the Caps led in shots 8-6 in the second.
The Caps would tie it in the third period at 14:56 on the power play. Off a face off draw won by Nicklas Backstrom who else but Alex Ovechkin charging into his office to slam the puck into the net for his 39th of the season and 769th of his career. This would force overtime which is ironic because Samantha Pell wasn’t even there.
The Caps led in shots 14-7 in the third period and 4-1 in overtime as the played good but couldn’t score. They led in shots overall 40-20 as this game would be decided in a shootout.
Ilya Samsonov stopped Trocheck. Kuznetsov missed on the other end. Andrei Svechnikov got stopped. As did Backstrom and Jarvis. But it would be Ovechkin who would end it. Again who else and what sweeter moment on the road?
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The Caps are back in action tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. as they host the Dallas Stars.