Looking at the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals in advance of their meeting Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C., there’s a basic assessment of their recent play: The Hurricanes have found ways to get the job done, while the Capitals have not.
The Hurricanes have won four games in a row following Sunday night’s comeback from a two-goal deficit for a 5-4 road victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“We’ve done a great job of doing it by committee,” Carolina forward Seth Jarvis said. “All facets of our game are really going right now. Even if guys aren’t getting on the scoresheet, they’re making impacts in different ways. I think that’s what’s really pushing our team to win.”
The Capitals, who have been off since Saturday, have lost two in a row and six of their last seven (1-5-1). Tuesday’s game will mark the third stop on a four-game road trip after losing to Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay.
“Same old song,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “I thought we did some good things (against the Lightning).”
Good stretches during games aren’t satisfying for the Capitals, who have entered the third period tied in each of their last four losses. That has been a theme of sorts for a team that has 14 third-period goals in 15 games this season, tied for 28th in the league.
After Washington started the season 6-2-0, it has plummeted into second-to-last place in the Metropolitan Division, only a single point up on Columbus.
“We’ve got to find ways to score goals and come out on top,” Washington defenseman John Carlson said. “It does us no good to feel like you’re playing good if you don’t win. It doesn’t matter.”
Things won’t get easier against a Carolina team currently tied atop the division.
The Hurricanes had to crank up the pace in Toronto, with their 22 third-period shots the franchise’s most in any period on the road in more than two years.
“We’re obviously going to play our game and let the chips fall where they may,” Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall said. “You take some solace in that, that you just have to do your job and work.”
Jarvis scored his team-high 10th goal, becoming the second-fastest Hurricane in 15 years to reach double-digit goals in a season.
The Hurricanes, who didn’t hold practice Monday after playing three games in four nights, will be retooling their defensive pairings again after rookie Charles Alexis Legault was taken to the hospital Sunday because of a cut hand sustained in Toronto. They’re already without three starting defensemen from the beginning of the season, and Legault was one of the players who has been filling in.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in all my days,” Brind’Amour said. “You get injuries here and there but to this degree, it’s just the way it has gone. What’s impressive to me is just how we’ve found ways to get it done.”
The Capitals aren’t void of significant injuries. Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois had surgery for injuries to his abdominal and adductor muscles, with the team revealing at the end of the weekend that he is expected to miss at least three months of action.
