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Carolina Hurricanes: Game Three Takeaways vs. Capitals

By Austin Blum

RALEIGH, NC - APRIL 15: Brock McGinn #23 of the Carolina Hurricanes scores a goal an celebrates with teammates Dougie Hamiton #19 and Jaccob Slavin #74 in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Washington Capitals during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 15, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC - APRIL 15: Brock McGinn #23 of the Carolina Hurricanes scores a goal an celebrates with teammates Dougie Hamiton #19 and Jaccob Slavin #74 in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Washington Capitals during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 15, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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RALEIGH, NC – APRIL 15: Warren Foegele #13 of the Carolina Hurricanes controls the puck near the blue line against of the Washington Capitals in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 15, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC – APRIL 15: Warren Foegele #13 of the Carolina Hurricanes controls the puck near the blue line against of the Washington Capitals in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 15, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /

1st Period Takeaways

The story of the first period was the fight between Andrei Svechnikov and Alex Ovechkin. Svechnikov was lost for the game after a punch that sent Svechnikov to the ice that resulted in the back of his head hitting the ice. That immediately led to trainers being sent onto the ice to check on him and it took some juice out of the home crowd.

Jordan Staal was whistled for interference about a minute after that and the Hurricanes killed it off, which in turn brought the crowd back into the game after the unfortunate injury to Svechnikov. This penalty kill was huge in gaining the momentum of the game for the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes finally got off to a start they wanted when Warren Foegele made the Hurricanes lead 1-0. This gave the Hurricanes their first lead of the series and they never looked back from here. This jolted Foegele to become more aggressive on the offensive end especially after being elevated in the lines after Svechnikov’s early exit.

This was Petr Mrazek’s most active period of the game, stopping all nine shots he faced this period. Most of the Capitals scoring opportunities occurred in this period. But none of these chances were really that special as Mrazek had a relatively quiet night.

The physicality of this period was on full display as bodies were being thrown around and it seems the referees at times were losing their grip on the game. After each whistle there always seemed to be some sort of altercation that may have happened as a result of the fight earlier in the first period.

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