Coming off of a rough finish in Detroit on Tuesday, the Carolina Hurricanes were looking to get back in the win column on Thursday night in DC.
That didn’t happen.
The Washington Capitals dominated the opening 40 minutes and tolerated the Hurricanes for the final 20 minutes of a 4-0 shutout win.
The first period was a mess for Carolina, one of their worst periods of the year, especially on offense, where they failed to generate a single high-danger scoring chance.
They were slow and ineffective, which was exacerbated by them taking three minor penalties, including two consecutively late in the period when Ethan Bear got the gate for holding, and Brady Skjei followed him 40 seconds later for high-sticking.