The Washington Capitals were on their collective back foot against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. For a while the scoreboard didn’t care, but eventually it caught up.
Aliaksei Protas scored the lone goal of the first 40 minutes, set free by Brandon Duhaime’s frisky work along the boards.
Halfway into the third period, Protas made an iffy defensive-zone pass to Alexeyev, allowing Logan Stankoven to tie the game. The Caps had to kill a Chychrun penalty late in regulation, but they did, and so we went to overtime.
Three minutes into the overtime, Jaccob Slavin scored through a screen. Thompson didn’t see it until it was too late.
Caps lose 2-1. Canes lead the series 1-0.
- The game began with unbridled domination by Carolina, who earned nigh-unlimited time in the Washington zone and generating tons of shot attempts in the process. It was dispiriting, but the Caps kept most shots outside and blocked a full 15 attempts in that first period. We knew this series was going to be tough for puck possession, but that was awful.
- Like how the Habs series began, there were some tone-setting hits early, with Tom Wilson authoring a few. But unlike with the Canadiens, the Hurricanes responded in kind.
- In the first, Jordan Staal (36) rocked Ryan Leonard (20) in a problematic age-gap hit. In the third, Leonard (still 20) mixed it up with Brent Burns (40) in a a bit of a May-December romance. Leonard had a huge chance on a breakaway in the third but couldn’t finish. One of these days, Leonard is going to break through. He looks great.
- I have nothing to say about ESPN. I was told by someone that’s what you’re supposed to do if you have nothing nice to say.
- Some things that happened: Brandon Duhaime got clipped up high, John Carlson tried and failed to sell a high stick, Matt Roy got stung by blocking a shot, and Andrew Mangiapane missed some shifts after taking a puck to the mouth. Loffs take its toll.
- Aliaksei Protas played in his second game since returning from that skate-blade injury to his foot. He played on the fourth line, which I think is a good choice but reasonable minds disagree. And anyway, I’m right because this happened:
- As overtime began, Protas was back on the top line with Ovechkin and Strome.
- Ian says he considers Logan Thompson the single biggest difference-maker of the first round. There’s a good case there, but in Game 1 of round two there is no room for debate. He was brilliant, a light in a dark place. He had saved 3.7 expected goals before Stankoven’s actual goal. At the end of regulation, he had kept 3.4 extra Canes goals from showing up on the scoreboard.
- The Carolina Hurricanes have yet to allow a power-play goal this postseason. The Caps got nothing on two opportunities, but they had some real good chances on the first one.
- Nic Dowd was the sacrificial lamb at the twin altars of zone starts and shot attempts. He hardly sniffed the offensive zone. For the first 80 percent of the game, the only Caps shot attempt he was on the ice for was the Protas goal.
That was a very difficult game, and the Caps were lucky to ever be in it.
I was expecting a lot more drama, post-whistle mischief, mutual outrage. Before a late-game furmeet, the most we got was Tom Wilson snagging the guard from Sebastian Aho’s agape mouth. Don’t get me wrong: I’m grateful for the healthy-range blood pressure. Just surprised is all. These two teams were at each other’s throats one month ago. I think they’ll get there again soon.
Game 2 is on Thursday.
