1 week Ago
WASHINGTON -- Tom Wilson scored his career-best 33rd goal of the season and the Washington Capitals wrapped up the top spot in the Eastern Conference by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in a shootout Thursday night. Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the shootout winner after the Capitals rallied from a 2-0 deficit, then blew a 4-2 lead with Carolina's Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis scoring in the third period to tie it. That came after Washington's scoring spree in the second, with Dylan Strome , Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson all putting goals past Frederik Andersen .
Alex Ovechkin assisted on Strome's goal, his 26th of the season, after being in a pregame ceremony for scoring his 895th career goal to break Wayne Gretzky's NHL record on Sunday at the New York Islanders . Dubois also scored in regulation, while Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves and stayed in the game after a nasty collision seven minutes in on Carolina's second goal. The Hurricanes, who are locked into second place in the Metropolitan Division and a first-round matchup against New Jersey, got to overtime but lost their fourth in a row.
Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake also scored, and Andersen allowed four goals on 28 shots in regulation. Brandon Duhaime and Jalen Chatfield dropped the gloves early to settle a score from the teams' game last week. The Capitals were unhappy with Chatfield's takedown of Connor McMichael at the end of their fight.
The Associated Press contributed to this story..
