Hurricanes look to slow high-scoring Capitals (Feb 07, 2017)
WASHINGTON -- Regardless of who is on the ice the for the Washington Capitals these days, the opposing goalie doesn't get a break.
The Capitals, who host the streaking Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, are getting contributions throughout their lineup. When they swept a pair of games last weekend, eight different players lit the lamp.
Jay Beagle, Andre Burakovsky and Nicklas Backstrom scored Saturday in Washington's 3-2 win at Montreal, and Lars Eller, Marcus Johansson, Brett Connolly, T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams did the damage Sunday as the Capitals blanked the visiting Los Angeles Kings 5-0.
"I think everybody, once they're on the ice, they think they can score a goal right now," Eller told the Washington Post.
Beagle (11 goals) has already surpassed his previous career high (10), while Oshie (20 goals), Johansson (16) and Connolly (10) are on pace for career highs.
The Capitals (36-11-6) have scored four or more goals in 14 of their past 19 games while improving to 23-0-1 this season when reaching four goals.
In addition, after experiencing first-period struggles last season, Washington has scored first 38 times this season and is 30-4-4 when doing so, the top mark in the NHL.
"We've been really good at being ready to go out of the gate and trying to play fast and get everybody involved," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said after the Sunday win.
Washington leads the NHL with 78 points after securing at least one point in 18 of its past 20 games.
One of those games was a 6-1 win over Carolina on Jan. 23 in Washington. The Capitals have taken two of three from the Hurricanes, one via shootout.
The Hurricanes (24-20-7) are streaking as well, however, winning their third straight Saturday against the Islanders in overtime. It was just Carolina's seventh road of the season and its first since a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 5.
"Heading into the break, we were getting shelled a little bit and were shell-shocked," Carolina right winger Lee Stempniak told the Raleigh News & Observer. "We'd give up a goal, then we'd give up a second, give up a third and the game would get away from us quickly. We've done a lot better job of responding to any adversity."
Propelling the Hurricanes' recent success is rookie winger Sebastian Aho, who on Monday was named the NHL's "First Star" of the week ending Sunday.
Aho, 19, scored four goals last week, including his first career hat trick.
"Credit to him at a young age to be able to get acclimated to the NHL game and get acclimated to North America," coach Bill Peters said. "He's a smart player, a competitive kid with a real good skill set, and he can play multiple positions and up and down the lineup. He's coming on for sure."
After a slow start, Aho is among the top rookies in goals (16) and points (31). He has 10 goals since Dec. 30.
Aho has two goals and four assists in three games versus Washington.
Carolina goalie Cam Ward, who won his past two starts, will be looking for revenge after surrendering six goals when he last faced the Capitals. For his career, Ward is 17-16-5 with a 2.68 goals-against average versus Washington.
Washington backup Philipp Grubauer (10-3-2, 1.98 GAA) continued his stellar season with a shutout Sunday against the Kings. Braden Holtby (26-8-4, 1.99) likely will be back in net Tuesday night. He is 10-4 with a 1.84 GAA in his career versus the Hurricanes.
