Yahoo Finance Late penalties spoil Hurricanes’ return home. What we learned in Canes’ loss to Caps
After two weeks of charter flights, hotel rooms, restaurant food, team bus rides and six away games, the Carolina Hurricanes were back at PNC Arena on Sunday.
It was time to get back on home ice and face an old foe: the Washington Capitals.
The Caps emerged with a 4-2 victory as Alex Ovechkin picked up his 19th goal of the season and goalie Ilya Samsonov earned his ninth win, taking over first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, while calling the Caps a “great team that gives you nothing.” was not happy with the way the game ended. Neither were a lot of Canes fans, who were loudly booing the refs in the final minutes.
A holding penalty against Canes rookie Seth Jarvis with five minutes left in regulation, followed by a slashing call 30 seconds later against Sebastian Aho gave the Caps a 5-on-3 power play for 1:30. The Canes killed off the Jarvis penalty, but the Caps’ Dmitry Orlov scored on a short shot at the post for the go-ahead goal with 2:55 remaining in regulation — John Carlson’s empty-net goal later make it 4-2.
“It’s a tough way to end the game,” Brind’Amour said. “It was a great hockey game. I thought we had a great third period, just did everything we could. It’s unfortunate.
“What are you going to do? It’s tough. The first penalty is a penalty for sure. We blew our coverage there, which we didn’t do any of that the whole period., then all of a sudden took a little breath and that’s what they do to you. Give up a breakaway and take a penalty.”
It was Aho’s penalty that had Brind’Amour howling mad behind the bench.
“I get it but a tough call,” he said. “It’s a nothing play. We actually have the puck. Like, we’re getting it. I get it, why they call those, but I kind of felt like their guy called it. ‘Ovi’ kind of gave the ol’ yell at the ref and he decides to call it.
“But it is what it is. I mean that’s a penalty. Can’t do it. And that’s your game. That’s the frustrating part for everybody, right, it was a great game and it ends like that. They kind of took it out of our hands but it is what it is.”
The Canes (15-4-1) trailed 2-0 after two periods but had the building rumbling as Jesperi Kotkaniemi and then Nino Niederreiter scored — both on open shots in the slot — to tie it in the third.
The first period was without a goal but not without action. The second period belonged to the Caps (14-3-5), who ramped up their forecheck and got goals from Ovechkin and rookie forward Aliaksei Protas.
For more than 46 minutes, the Canes couldn’t solve Samsonov, who had not faced a lot of dangerous shots. That ended when Kotkaniemi found open ice between the circles, took a pass from Jordan Martinook and beat Samsonov for his fifth of the season -- the Canes’ fourth line producing at 6:22 of the third.
Niederreiter then tied it at 13:32 of the period. Defenseman Brett Pesce took a hit in the offensive zone to get the puck low to Martin Necas, who found Niederreiter open for his fourth of the season.
The Canes had needed some good penalty killing to stay within reach, shutting down two Washington power plays in the second period and another early in the third period. But Orlov finally converted in the third.
“Frustrating a little bit because we were doing good on the penalty kill all (game),” Aho said. “We felt confident we could kill that again and have a little push at the end. But 5-on-3’s are tough. It was a tough one.”
The power play again was a problem for the Canes, who have gone six games without a power-play goal. The Canes had two first-period power plays but managed two shots, then one in the third period.
Ovechkin, who had his 28th career hat trick Friday against Florida, had an easy tap-in at 11:58 after Orlov skated down the slot and had Ovechkin open at the post. It was Ovechkin’s seventh in the last five games and his 749th career goal.
The Caps made it 2-0 just 59 seconds later, after a brief encounter between Canes goalie Frederik Andersen and Evgeny Kuznetsov. After Andersen shoved away Kuznetsov with his blocker, Portas centered a pass that bounced off the skate of defenseman Tony DeAngelo and past Andersen at 12:57.
“I thought we came out really strong and had a really good first period,” Niederreiter said. “We kind of dictated the game most of the time and (the Caps) obviously got a couple of goals and we fought back, which is definitely great.”
The physicality picked up in the second. Canes defenseman Brendan Smith took the Caps’ Tom Wilson to the ice at one point, although the gloves stayed in. Canes rookie Seth Jarvis took an elbow in the ear from Nic Dowd.
It was just like old times. The Caps’ Wilson was bashing people and Ovechkin hunting shots and goals. The game had a nice flow to it, at time interrupted by some on-ice yapping.
Because of the pandemic, the Canes and Caps had not faced off in a game at PNC Arena since Jan. 3, 2020. The Caps won 4-3 that day, which seems like eons ago in that Ryan Dzingel had one of the Carolina goals and nine players in the Canes lineup are no longer with the team. Bur some things don’t change.
“It’s two teams that compete hard,” Aho said. “There’s a little bit of history there, so high-intense matches.”
