Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from HUGE Game 7 Win Over Washington

The Carolina Hurricanes have eliminated the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Before setting our sights to the New York Islanders for Game 1 of the second round, let’s take a look at how the Hurricanes were able to prevail over the Capitals in Game 7.

Wow. What an incredible game! I still can’t believe I’m typing these words. The Carolina Hurricanes have eliminated the Washington Capitals in Game 7. In an absolute stunner of a game, the Carolina Hurricanes have secured their spot in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Two overtime periods. 90+ minutes. 6 regulation goals. 1 overtime goal. The perfect list of ingredients in an already epic postseason around the entire league. The NHL playoffs are already unpredictable, but this year has been a different beast entirely.

The San Jose Sharks rallied back on Tuesday night to beat the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime to secure their 2nd round berth. Enough about the rest of league. Let’s focus on why we’re all here: the Hurricanes eliminating the defending Stanley Cup champions in Round 1.

This game was an absolute rollercoaster; the Capitals went up by 2 goals early on, the Hurricanes scored on a Sebastian Aho shorthanded shift, the Capitals answered quickly, then Jordan Staal tied up the game in the third period. Today, we are going to dissect each individual period and relive what is instantly a classic game between the two Eastern Conference rivals.

1st Period Takeaways:

The Carolina Hurricanes started the 1st period in relatively lukewarm fashion. After an unforced turnover from Brett Pesce, Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky opened up the scoring in the first just 2:13 into the game.

Four minutes later, Capitals enforcer Tom Wilson doubled the score after an impressive play along the boards by Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin blew by Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton, deked around a diving Jaccob Slavin, and dished it to Tom Wilson who easily batted it past Petr Mrazek.

The Hurricanes played a very uninspired first period, having been outscored 2-0 and outshot 11-10 by the end of the period. The Hurricanes’ have struggled in almost every game this series that they’ve failed to convert offensively early on. This game was no different, however would yield an entirely different result than previous games in the series.

On top of the lack of offensive production, the Hurricanes’ defensive corps made quite a few costly mistakes. Both of the Capitals’ goals in the 1st period were a direct result of a defensive misstep.

The first, Brett Pesce coughed up an unforced giveaway that led directly to a Burakovsky goal. The second, Dougie Hamilton took a chance and pinched up-ice, which resulted in Ovechkin taking the puck and making the play to Tom Wilson. The Hurricanes needed to come out stronger in the second, and that is exactly what they did.

2nd Period Takeaways

The 2nd period is where the game really started to turn around. The Hurricanes on the whole seemed to find their footing, and the Capitals seemed to let up a bit. Whether it was due to fatigue, or due to underestimation, the Capitals played a much more reserved game for most of the 2nd.

The real turning point in the game was Sebastian Aho‘s shorthanded goal 9:51 through the period. Aho found himself in a 2 on 1 situation going into Washington’s zone with Teuvo Teravainen. Aho shot the puck on net, seemingly to force a rebound to Teravainen, but the rebound trampolined right back to Aho, who skillfully whizzed it past Braden Holtby to cut the lead in half.

Washington would answer relatively quickly, scoring their 3rd (and final) goal of the game just minutes later. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first goal of the series from a pass by Carl Hagelin. In true rally form, the Hurricanes would answer right back, as Teuvo Teravainen netted a goal off of a pass from Brock McGinn to bring the score to 3-2.

The Hurricanes defense seemed to regather themselves throughout the second, and players such as Jaccob Slavin and Justin Faulk had phenomenal defensive shifts at various points during the period. This was just the beginning of the Hurricanes’ epic comeback. The 3rd period was that much more intense.

3rd Period Takeaways

The 3rd period was one of the most intense periods of hockey I had seen to date (up until 1OT and 2OT. More on that later.). The Hurricanes were down a goal, and the defending Stanley Cup Champions were looking to close out the series and send the Canes packing back to Raleigh until September. Jordan Staal wasn’t such a huge fan of that idea.

Less than three minutes into the 3rd, Jordan Staal wristed a beauty of a shot over Braden Holtby’s right shoulder to tie the game up. The Capital One Arena was dead silent. The Hurricanes were alive and well, and tensions grew.

The referees seemed to be letting the flow of the game continue. There were plenty of opportunities for calls throughout the 3rd, but the refs continued to swallow their whistles. The Capitals had one last shot to put the game away with a little over two minutes left to play in regulation.

Tom Wilson nearly beat Mrazek on the glove side, but Mrazek got just enough of it to keep it out of the net. The puck remained loose in the crease, and Mrazek kicked it towards the yawning goal in the scramble to cover the puck.

Brock McGinn, in his most heroic play yet (until 2OT. Again, more on that later), dove into the crease and batted the puck away just as it approached the goal line. The 3rd period ended a tied game, and the Hurricanes were alive and well.