Hurricanes-Capitals Recap: Carolina Breaks Away in Third Period

Cam Ward held off the Capitals in the first period, and Carolina's defensemen showed their offensive side in the third as the Hurricanes defeated Washington 4-1 Saturday night in the RBC Center.

It was Carolina's eighth straight home win, where they are 22-13-1 for the season, to the delight of the lively sellout crowd. The win moves the streak into second in franchise history, topped only by a nine-game home winning streak at the beginning of their 2005-2006 Stanley Cup season.

Cam Ward kept the Hurricanes even in the score with the Capitals in the first period, stopping all 10 Capital shots, including six scoring chances. Even though Carolina was out-shot 10-4 in the first, it was scoreless after one period of play.

Early in the second, more strong play helped kill off a fresh-ice powerplay for Washington, who has the second-best powerplay scoring percentage in the league.

With the momentum provided by the kill, a misplay with the puck behind the net by Caps G Jose Theodore resulted in a steal by Jussi Jokinen who set up Brind'Amour in the slot to slap it right into the net.

It was Brind'Amour's 13th goal of the season, and the Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead.

The Hurricanes then went on to dominate most of the rest of the second period, but strong play from Theodore kept the puck out of the net.

Then the Capitals caught on. With five minutes remaining in the second, Ovechkin had the puck and a easy path to an empty net, but a Cane got over and blocked it high.

However, Ward spit out a rebound on a save on Backstrom with 40 seconds remaining in the second period and Green pounded it home where Ward had no chance. The Capitals' goal tied the score at one goal apiece, and 34 seconds later the second intermission began with the score tied at one.

In the third, a hooking penalty to Brind'Amour ended up in another flurry of shots in which Cam Ward turned away.

Soon after the penalty was killed, D Joni Pitkanen had a breakout on the right side and passed to Staal, poised for a shot. Staal's shot was nicely saved by Theodore, but Pitkanen got the rebound right in the goalmouth and was able to skate far enough that he had room to flick the puck past Theodore (who was lying down) into the top of the net to regain the lead for Carolina with 15 minutes remaining in regulation time.

Then, with under seven minutes to go on a four-on-four, Ray Whitney had a breakout on the left side, where his patience allowed him to hold up long enough for Anton Babchuk to get in front of Theodore before he threw the puck on net.

Babchuk easily gained control right in the goalmouth and was able to juke out Theodore and bang it into an empty net. The Hurricanes' lead was now two.

And from there on out it was Cam Ward. A partial breakaway by Fleishman drew Ward out too far, but he was able to get his pad on a hard slapper and deflect it high into the netting.

With 1:30 to go, Washington got a four-on-three power play for one-and-a-half minutes, in which they pulled their goalie to make it a two-man advantage. But Ward was ready, and after killing off a minute of the penalty, Joe Corvo got control behind his net and flipped it down towards the open Capitals goal.

Ovechkin chased after the puck but couldn't reach it in time before it rolled into the empty net to secure a 4-1 victory for Carolina. It was Carolina's eighth short-handed goal of the year and Corvo's 14th.

Cam Ward ended up having one of his best games of the year, stopping 31 of 32 Capitals shots (96.9 percent save percentage)!

Theodore was also quite good in goal for Washington. He stopped 26 of 29 shots by the Hurricanes, not including the empty net marker.

The win gave Carolina their 84th and 85th points, keeping them one point ahead of the seventh-place Rangers, and five points into a playoff spot.

However, the excess number of games played by the Hurricanes somewhat distorts their position in the standings. The win moved Carolina within one win of their franchise record fourth-straight 40-win season, and improved their terrific record in March to 7-1-2.

The Hurricanes will play next Monday night in Florida in a crucial game with another rival team that they are fighting for a playoff spot for.

The Capitals will visit Toronto on Tuesday, who is coming off a 5-2 victory over slumping Montreal.