Canes swamp Caps, 6-1

In Washington, DC, the Carolina Hurricanes took a 6-1 win over the Capitals on Monday night.

The win was the first for the Canes in their four-game season series with Washington.

Martin Necas hit for a double for Carolina and had three points in the win.

“It always builds your confidence more and more when the puck goes in and you feel good about yourself,” Necas said. “(It) always helps, but [Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour says] everybody has to play two-way game and if you play good in your own zone, you’re going to get chances in the other.”

Frederik Andersen made 25 saves in the Carolina win.

Tom Wilson was the lone goal scorer for the Caps.

“I think a big part of it is the mindset we have going into it,” the Capitals’ Garnet Hathaway said. “And I think you look at it, and we have a really good road record (21-7-5). So, it’s trying to figure out not what we’re doing wrong here, but what we’re doing right on the road and how to translate that to do it at home.”

The Hurricanes improved to 44-15-7.

“I think every game from now until the playoffs is gearing up for the real stage,” Carolina’s Max Domi said. “Every game’s big, it doesn’t really matter who it’s against. Obviously, that’s a good team over there, we know that. We were good tonight, so we’ll take the win and got to get ready for the next one tomorrow against Tampa.”

Derek Stepan and Necas made scored to give the Canes a 2-0 lad.

“Slow start. (We) probably weren’t ready for the first couple shifts,” Washington’s Conor Sheary said. “But after that, I think we played probably 20 minutes of good hockey and we just couldn’t get anything going. Unfortunate game against a division opponent, but we will move past it.”

After Wilson scored to cut the lead to 2-1, Sebastian Aho hit for a shorthanded to restore the two-goal lead.

Brett Pesce and Necas then scored to close out the middle frame with a 5-1 lead to Carolina.

“It’s unfortunate the way [those] two goals played out,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. “A shorthanded goal and then a 4-on-4 goal on a missed coverage. You’re doing the right things, you bring it to 2-1 and then it gets away from you and it’s 4-1.”

Brady Skjei  scored in the third period for the 6-1 final.

Vitek Vanecek got the start for Washington, and yielded five goals, he made 18 saves before getting the hook in the second intermission.

Ilya Samsonov made five saves in a mop up role.