RALEIGH — It appears Dmitry Orlov likes playing against his old team.
Martin Necas is enjoying playing against everyone.
Orlov had two goals and Necas finished with three points to lead the Hurricanes to a 4-2 win over the Capitals on Sunday at Lenovo Center, breaking a tie with Washington for the best winning percentage in the Eastern Conference.
“Necas made two nice passes, and I just shot it and pucks go in,” Orlov said. “So it’s always nice, but it was important to have a good game.”
Orlov and Necas each scored in the second period.
Necas — who picked up primary assists on Orlov’s pair of goals — took advantage of a sloppy Capitals line change to get in the clear and backhand a shot over Charlie Lindgren (40 saves) to tie the game 2-2 at 2:29 of the middle frame.
“He’s been real special here to start the season,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Necas.
Orlov gave Carolina the lead under three minutes later, blasting a one-timer off Lindgren’s glove and in — the second time in the game the defenseman put one past the Washington goalie’s right-handed trapper — to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead at 5:26 of the second period.
The Hurricanes could have been disheartened after allowing a pair of goals late in the first period — including the 860th of Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin’s career — turning a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit.
Instead, Carolina dominated much of the second period, outshooting Washington 18-5.
“I think guys understood that we were going pretty well and we were getting a lot of opportunities, and we just have to get back to doing that,” Brind’Amour said. “And there’s really no other choice.”
The Hurricanes also got off to a good start against the Capitals — who played the night before at home against Columbus — carrying the play before opening the scoring at 14:01 of the first period.
Necas managed to settle a bouncing puck just inside the Capitals blue line, curled and dropped the puck to Orlov. The defenseman creeped up the left side and fired a shot that clipped Lindgren’s glove and fluttered in to give Carolina a 1-0 lead.
Orlov’s longtime teammate didn’t let the lead stand for long.
After Necas and Shayne Gostisbehere were called for penalties on the same sequence, Washington was awarded two full minutes of 5-on-3. Carolina’s PK nearly survived the kill, but Alex Ovechkin blasted a shot from the left circle that beat Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov (21 saves) to tie the game at 19:16 of the opening period.
Ovechkin pointed playfully at Kochetkov after scoring his goal.
“Every time he tell(s) me a lot of bad words,” Kochetkov said. “He scored (on) me, ‘I score you! I score you!’ All Russians do this. It’s no problem for me.”
Washington then took the lead just 33 seconds later when Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin attempted to bat the puck out of the defensive zone with his glove, but Necas was unable to handle it. That led to a chance in front for Washington, and after a Kochetkov save, the puck hit Slavin’s leg and bounced toward the net for Brandon Duhaime to knock in with 11 seconds remaining in the first for a 2-1 Capitals lead.
Kochetkov shook off the two quick goals and made big stops when needed, and none was bigger than his just before the midway point of the third period with Carolina clinging to its one-goal lead.
Ovechkin snuck behind the Hurricanes defense and closed in on Kochetkov. The Carolina goalie, however, waited out the future Hall of Famer and got his right pad on Ovechkin’s attempt to keep the Hurricanes ahead.
“That’s the big save of the game for me, really,” Brind’Amour said. “We’re going, we’re getting tons of chances … and he gets loose, and it’s the wrong guy getting loose. Kooch made a heck of a save there.”
Kochetkov, who made his third straight start, got the final word on Ovechkin.
“I wait (for the) shot,” Kochetkov said of the breakaway stop.” He sees I go down. He went backhand. Like, I just touched stick, no score.”
Carolina used the rest of the third period to pressure the Capitals, keeping the puck mostly in the offensive zone and finally getting an empty-net goal by Andrei Svechnikov with 8.2 seconds remaining to seal the Hurricanes’ sixth straight win, improving them to 8-2-0 on the season.
“It’s not an easy league to win six in a row, and we did a good job,” Orlov said. “So we’ve got two more home games, so we need — especially division games, it’s rivals all the time — to keep focus, not be too happy. Just move on, forget, have fun and try to play for each other.”
Notes: Necas has 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists) in the last six games. … Sebastian Aho was held without a point but had a game-high seven shots on goal. … Orlov had the seventh two-goal game of his career and second since coming to Carolina (March 17, 2024).
