Carolina Hurricanes Dominate Tired Washington Capitals, 5-1; Alex Ovechkin Two Goals Away From Tying NHL Record trucc

The Washington Capitals lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, who clinched a spot in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, by a score of 5-1 at Lenovo Center on Wednesday to fall to 48-18-9 (.700 points percentage) this season. Washington has dropped four of their last five games (1-3-1).

Captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 992nd career goal in Raleigh and currently sits two goals away from tying Wayne Gretzky’s NHL all-time record.

Goaltender Logan Thompson made nine saves on 12 shots before getting pulled after the first period due to an upper-body injury. Charlie Lindgren turned aside 19 of 21.

Washington’s Lines

Ovechkin — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas — Dylan Strome — Ryan Leonard
Connor McMichael – Lars Eller — Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Anthony Beauvillier

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Dylan McIlrath
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Thompson
Lindgren

• Scratched
  • D Alexander Alexeyev
  • RW Ethen Frank
  • RW Taylor Raddysh
• Injured
  • LW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
  • C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
  • RW T.J. Oshie (back)
  • D Matt Roy (family reasons)

Carolina’s Lines

Seth Jarvis — Sebastian Aho — Jackson Blake
Taylor Hall — Jack Roslovic — Andrei Svechnikov
Jordan Martinook — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Logan Stankoven
Eric Robinson —Mark Jankowski — Tyson Jost

Jaccob Slavin — Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov — Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere — Sean Walker

Frederik Andersen
Pyotor Kochetkov

• Scratched
  • D Scott Morrow
• Injured
  • LW William Carrier (lower-body)
  • C Jordan Staal (lower-body)
  • RW Jesper Fast (neck)

First Period

Scoring

• 6:14, 1-0 Carolina: After Chychrun turned the puck over from the right half-wall to Walker in the high right dot, Walker stepped in a wristed a shot over the glove of Thompson.

• 10:11, 2-0 (PPG): Blake slipped a shot through the five-hole of Thompson from the left dot after Carlson got in the way of Chatfield’s shot from the slot.

• 13:21, 3-0 (PPG): Jarvis blasted a shot over the glove of Thompson from the right dot after Gostisbehere fed him from the top for his 30th goal of the season.

• Thompson robbed Jankowski, stretching out the right pad on a shorthanded breakaway.

Stats

• 12-5 Carolina in shots
• .667 Carolina on faceoffs
• Carolina scored on both of their power plays
  • Washington did not score on their first two
• 14-6 Washington in hits
• 4-3 Washington in blocked shots
• 6-5 Carolina in takeaways

Graphs: Natural StatTrick

Second Period

Scoring

• 9:27, 4-0: Stankoven ripped a shot over the glove of Lindgren from the slot after Roslovic entered the zone and flipped the puck over two Capitals defenders to Stankoven.

• 19:25, 4-1 (PPG): Ovechkin blasted a one-timer under the glove of Andersen from the top of the left dot after Chychrun set him up from the top. Ovechkin has scored a goal in three straight games, marking his third goal streak of three or more games this season. Strome extended his point and assist streaks to four games (1-4-5). Strome has tallied nine points (1-8-9) in seven games against the Hurricanes dating back to last season. Chychrun, who has already established career highs in goals (20) and points (47), has matched his career high in assists (2023-24: 27). Strome has assisted on 19 of Ovechkin’s 39 goals this season. Since joining the Capitals ahead of the 2022-23 season, no player has assisted on more Ovechkin goals than Strome (45).

Graphic: @NHLPR

Stats

• 18-17 in shots
  • 12-6 Washington in the second period
• Washington scored once on their first three power plays
  • Carolina did not on either of their two in the second period
• 22-10 Washington in hits
• 7-6 Washington in blocked shots
• 13-0 Carolina in giveaways

Third Period

Scoring

• 6:55, 5-1: Blake stepped in, curled and dragged around Protas, deked to the backhand, and roofed a shot over the glove of Lindgren off of an offensive zone faceoff win by Jarvis.

• With 5:22 left, McMichael danced with Chatfield but got thrown to the ice.

Stats

• 32-21 Carolina in shots
  • including 14-5 in the third
• Washington finished one-for-five on the power play
  • Carolina went three-for-eight
• 32-14 Washington in hits
• 14-12 Washington in blocked shots
• 17-17 in giveaways
• 7-1 Washington in takeaways

Washington leads Carolina, who have one game in hand, by nine points for first place in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference. The Toronto Maple Leafs, who have seven games left like the Capitals entering Thursday, are 11 points behind Washington. The Capitals need any combination of points gained by them and points missed by Hurricanes that add up to eight to clinch the top seed in the division.