RALEIGH — The Carolina Hurricanes still don’t look totally in sync. They still managed a way to get two points on Halloween.
Stefan Noesen got his first goal with the Hurricanes, Andrei Svechnikov moved back into a tie for first in the NHL in goals and Carolina outdueled the Capitals in a shootout for a 3-2 win in front of 16,211 Monday at PNC Arena.
“It’s a little bit of a flip of a coin,” Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen said of the shootout. “But we were happy to get the two points. We don’t really care how they come but just stick with it and get the win.”
After Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns and Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov opened the shootout with goals, Svechnikov scored on Carolina’s second try while Andersen (18 saves) stopped the next two Washington shooters to secure the win.
The shootout came after a third period and overtime that was dominated by penalties. Both teams were called for embellishment minors on interference penalties that sent the game to 4-on-4 in the final 20 minutes, and then Carolina had a chances on the power play at the end of regulation and in overtime but couldn’t convert.
“We’d like to score on the power play there at the end,” Brind’Amour said, “but not letting that affect the rest of our game, which was pretty solid, (was important).”
Both teams’ power plays did connect earlier in the game.
During the Hurricanes’ first man advantage of the night, Noesen put three shots on Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper (33 saves) before setting up in front and tipping a Burns shot to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 4:27 of the first.
“Honestly, just seeing a goal go in is always a good thing,” said Noesen, who had an AHL-best 48 goals for the Chicago Wolves last season but last scored in the NHL on March 5, 2020. “I have my daughter here, so every time she comes — last year, I think, it was like 20 for 20. So I think we need to change her bedtime and get her here more often.”
After Dylan Strome tied the game just 83 seconds into the second period, the Capitals’ power play put them ahead.
Washington, even without four of its usual top power play players in Niklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, T.J. Oshie and John Carlson, was able to get the puck to Alex Ovechkin for a one-timer and his 785th career goal at 8:57 of the middle frame.
But Carolina responded. Paul Stastny, stationed in front of Kuemper, redirected a Martin Necas shot and the puck went right to Svechnikov, who whipped it in the open net to tie the game again at 15:42 of the second.
It was the eighth goal of the month for Svechnikov, the most by a Hurricanes player in October since Eric Staal scored nine and Ray Whitney had eight in October 2017. They did it in 13 games to Svechnikov’s nine.
Notes: Necas finished with two assists for his fourth multipoint performance in nine games this season. His 13 points lead the team. … Brett Pesce was called for two minor penalties, just the third time in his career he has been guilty of two minors in a game. … The Hurricanes improved to 6-2-1 on the season, while the Capitals are now 5-4-1.
