The Washington Capitals survived a comeback attempt from the Carolina Hurricanes following a 5-4 shootout win to secure their 50th win in 2024-25. The top two teams in the Metropolitan Division lived up to their top billing in a thrilling contest at Capital One Arena. Nine different goal scorers filled the stat sheet, including a late game-tying tally from Carolina. Washington’s Pierre-Luc Dubois netted the only goal in the shootout, which allowed the Capitals to claim the top seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs.
Five minutes into the first period, Hurricanes’ forward Logan Stankoven broke the scoreless tie on a broken play. A wrist shot from the Carolina defense was ripped wide of Charlie Lindgren ’s net before bouncing off the back boards, where Andrei Svechnikov collected it. The seven-year NHL veteran whipped a cross-ice pass to Stankoven’s stick, firing a shot toward a scrambling Lindgren. He initially made the arm save before knocking the puck into the net with his elbow. Two minutes later, Carolina was awarded a second goal after a collision between Jackson Blake and Tom Wilson, which ended with both players on top of Lindgren and the puck across the thin red line for a 2-0 Hurricanes lead. While the goal was reviewed, the officials determined it counted because Wilson initiated the contact with Blake.
With under three minutes to play in the opening period, Sean Walker was called for a slashing penalty on Dubois. The 26-year-old forward scored Washington’s first goal after deflecting a puck past Frederik Andersen to cut the lead in half, 2-1. Dubois scored his 20th of the season after receiving a wonderful centering feed from Andrew Mangiapane before sliding through the pads of Andersen. The Hurricanes tripled the Capitals in shots over the first period, 15-5, but only took the slim one-goal advantage into the locker room.
Washington controlled the second period of action at Capital One Arena with a 16-9 shot advantage and three unanswered goals. Capitals forward Dylan Strome scored on the power play to tie the game at two at 10:50 of the second period. Nic Dowd followed that goal up four minutes later to provide the Capitals their first lead, at 3-2 after Dowd batted a loose puck past the Carolina netminder with 3:11 remaining in the middle frame.
Tom Wilson added to his career-high scoring total with his 32nd goal of the season by stuffing a rebound into the net 90 seconds later for a 4-2 Washington lead. Wilson, a nominee for the 2025 King Clancy Memorial Trophy, has enjoyed the most successful offensive season of his 12-year NHL career with 32 goals and 32 assists for 62 points in 76 games.
The Hurricanes started the comeback process early in the third period on a Jordan Martinook snapshot that sailed past Lindgren to chip away at the Capitals lead, 4-3. Seth Jarvis saved the game by knocking down an Ovechkin attempt toward an empty net before scoring his 31st goal on a bang-bang play at the other end of the ice. Jarvis fed a pass to Sabastian Aho at the blue line before darting around a Capitals defender and positioning for a return pass that left Lindgren helpless to stop the puck from sliding into the net, resulting in a 4-4 score with 1:45 remaining in regulation.
Washington’s Dubois scored on the first shootout attempt on the evening, while no other goals were conceded over the remaining five attempts. With the win, Washington clinches the best seed in the Eastern Conference with a 50-19-9 record and four games remaining, including an upcoming home-and-home series with the Columbus Blue Jackets this weekend. Carolina falls to 46-27-5 and has an equal number of games left in the regular season, including closing their home schedule with a pair of games this weekend.
