RALEIGH — Alex Ovechkin fans got what they wanted. The Hurricanes got two points in the standings and punched their ticket to the postseason.
Ovechkin pulled within three goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s scoring record, but Carolina got two goals from rookie Jackson Blake, scored three times on the power play and matched the sour Capitals’ truculence en route to a 5-1 win Wednesday at Lenovo Center.
“It’s fun to watch,” Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis said of Ovechkin’s pursuit of Gretzky’s record, “but our focus was clinching playoffs tonight, and we’re really happy that’s what we did.”
Ovechkin’s goal, with the Carolina leading 4-0 late in the second period, came with Washington on a 5-on-3 power play. His one-timer across the grain beat Frederik Andersen (20 saves) with 35 seconds left in the middle frame, but it was all the offense the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals could muster against the team behind them in the Metropolitan Division standings.
The Capitals then followed forward Tom Wilson’s lead and triggered several melees that led to a combined eight third period misconducts, 142 total penalty minutes and plenty of bad blood between the two rivals.
“It’s fun, it’s competitive,” Jarvis said. “At some point, you just kind of want to go home, but everyone’s sticking up for each other. And I’m really, really, really proud of the guys in here and how we handled that and not taking any stuff from the other team.”
While the Hurricanes didn’t back down from the Capitals, they mostly let their play do the talking, taking control of the game early and never taking their foot off the gas.
After Andersen stopped Aliaksei Protas on a first period rush chance, Carolina went the other way and Sean Walker scored his fifth goal of the season on a slap shot past Logan Thompson (9 saves) at 6:14 of the opening period.
The Hurricanes then scored two power play goals to push their lead to 3-0 after 20 minutes.
With Capitals center Lars Eller in the box for interference, Shayne Gostisbehere’s point shot was redirected by Taylor Hall. The rebound went to Blake, who scored at 10:11 of the first.
Carolina went back to the power play just under three minutes later, and it only took 16 seconds for Jarvis to one-time in his 30th goal of the season to push the lead to 3-0 at 13:21.
Blake scored his second of the night and 14th off the season in the third period to give the Hurricanes three power play goals in a game for the second time this season. Carolina has scored on the power play in five straight games, converting on 33% of its chances in that stretch.
“The power play’s kind of hot right now,” Jarvis said. “We’re starting to figure it out right now. I think we’ve all been kind of in the same spots now for a little while, so we’re all getting comfortable with each other. … It’s nice to see we’re scoring in different ways on the power play.”
Thompson’s night was over after the first period, but the Hurricanes pushed their lead to four in the second period when Jack Roslovic set up Logan Stankoven in the slot, and the trade deadline acquisition snapped in his 12th goal of the season — his second in as many games and third since coming the Raleigh in the trade that sent Mikko Rantanen to Dallas — past Charlie Lindgren (17 saves) to make it 4-0 just before the midway point of regulation.
“It’s nice to get rewarded,” Stankoven said. “I think I just try and go out there and play the same way each game and be competitive and win my battles, and it’s nice to see the puck go in.”
Stankoven was also later the focus of Wilson’s ire, which triggered a penalty-filled third period that had undertones of playoff hockey — especially since the teams could meet in the second round.
Wilson started the fracas when his post-whistle cross check to Walker earned a retaliatory shove from Stankoven.
Wilson went after Stankoven, triggering a scrum.
“It doesn’t matter who it is, if guys are gonna push our guys around, then I’m gonna be there to step in,” the generously listed 5-foot-8 Stankoven said of not backing down from the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Wilson.
Washington’s Nick Dowd, Brandon Duhaime and Connor McMichael and Carolina’s Mark Jankowski, Tyson Jost and Jalen Chatfield all received misconducts in the next 100 seconds — with plenty of words exchanged in the game’s final seven minutes.
The Hurricanes, however, were satisfied with two points and clinching a seventh straight trip to the postseason under coach Rod Brind’Amour.
“We went and took it,” Brind’Amour said of his team winning their way into the playoffs. “We didn’t just get it handed to us.”
Notes: Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal missed his second straight game with a lower body injury. … Carolina forward Andrei Svechnikov did not play in the third period, but Brind’Amour said he didn’t believe his issue was serious. … Gostisbehere had two assists and has eight assists in the last seven games.
