RALEIGH, N.C. — Andrei Svechnikov pounced on a loose faceoff puck for his sixth postseason goal while Frederik Andersen had 21 saves as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Washington Capitals 4-0 on Saturday night for a 2-1 lead in their second-round playoff series.
Svechnikov sprang into the circle to beat John Carlson to the puck and beat Logan Thompson at 12:34 of the second for the game’s first goal in what turned out to be the start of Carolina’s game-seizing surge.
Jack Roslovic added a power-play goal late in the second period for the Hurricanes, while Eric Robinson charged up the left side to beat Thompson early in the third to make it 3-0.
Jackson Blake added a clinching power-play finish near the post late as the Hurricanes improved to 4-0 at home in the playoffs. A lot of that has had to do with their goaltender.
“[Tonight] might’ve been one of the better games he’s played for us,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Andersen.
The Hurricanes dominated play in the series opener but needed Jaccob Slavin’s overtime goal to push through on the road. The Capitals did a better job of countering in Game 2 and tied the series behind a strong two-way effort from Tom Wilson.
The Capitals seemingly had reversed the script on Carolina with a strong start, which included Andersen having to stand up to an immediate skating-in chance by Wilson and an early shot from Taylor Raddysh while the Hurricanes struggled to get on their aggressive game.
“I liked our start,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “But once we got down, it’s a tough spot for us as a team. It’s gets off track for us, and after that, our puck play was not great.”
And Andersen was strong throughout — carrying the load until the Hurricanes finally asserted control once Svechnikov broke the scoreless tie. In fact, Washington managed just one shot through 14 critical minutes of the second, spanning Svechnikov’s score and before to Roslovic’s man-advantage finish.
“Even we get down 1-0, even 2-0, we still felt fine about the game,” Carbery said. “But our puck was really slipped after that, and we really struggled with it.”
Thompson finished with 24 saves for Washington, while the Capitals managed just 10 shots in the final 39-plus minutes.
“Our first period was a little bit sloppy,” Svechnikov said. “But we came out hard in the second period, and just continued doing that.”
In the victory, Carolina’s Jordan Martinook left the game, but Brind’Amour did not have an update on his status in his postgame media availability. “Hopefully, he’ll be OK,” the coach said.
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Monday night in Raleigh.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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