Milano hat trick leads Caps past Canes, 7-6, after penalties Aho has hat trick for Canes in loss

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In Washington, DC, Dylan Strome’s goal in the skills competition capped a wild Friday night, as the Capitals topped the Carolina Hurricanes, 7-6.

Sonny Milano hit for a hat trick for the Capitals in the win.

Sebastian Aho had a hat trick for the Hurricanes, he collected his hats at 17:39 of the third period to tie the game, 6-6, and force an extra session, which solved nothing.

“It was a great effort. Plenty of momentum swings,” Washington’s John Carlson said. “When we’re fighting tooth and nail like we have been for a while now, you get some deflating goals against you, and we just put our heads down and worked through it. That pays off.”

Darcy Kuemper got the start for the Caps, he yielded four goals and made 18 saves before getting the hook in the second intermission.

Charlie Lindgren made seven saves through the extra session.

The Caps improved to 34-26-9 off their fourth win in five games.

This one got started early.

Aho potted his first of the game at 6:53 of the opening stanza, scoring from down low in the slot.

Milano popped his first of the game to tie the it, 1-1, off a power play goal at 12:45, scoring off an errant puck at the net.

“I thought especially early on when we were searching for it a bit and you could feel we hadn’t gotten into the game yet … him stepping up sort of calmed us a bit,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said.

Jaccob Slavin h put the Canes ahead,, 2-1 headed to the middle frame when he potted a marker at 19:12, scoring from  the left side.

“I thought especially early on when we were searching for it a bit and you could feel we hadn’t gotten into the game yet … him stepping up sort of calmed us a bit,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said.

In the middle frame, Alex Ovechkin tied it up, 2-2, at 13:59, scoring off the power play from just outside the crease.

Milano picked up his double at at 14:40 to give the Caps a 3-2 lead.

“It’s just pretty natural at this point because I practice so much that when I saw the rolling puck, that was my decision,” Milano said.

Carolina had a second goal of the overturned when Jordan Martinook‘s marker was waved off.

“Two in a game is rare, so those are big, big moments to be able to take two goals off the board,” Carbery said of the challenges.

Aho potted his double at at 15:23 to tie the game, 3-3.

“He’s such a good player that he makes it easy for me to play with him,” Carolina’s Jake Guentzel said of Aho. “Him and [Jarvis] have been nothing but unbelievable for me. It’s been a fun little run here and hopefully it keeps going.”

Carolina took a 4-3 lead into the third period when Brady Skjei  scored with six seconds  left on the clock, scoring off a shot from the point.

The Canes dropped to 44-20-7, snapping a five-game streak.

Washington hit for three power play goals on six chances.

“It was quite a game. Obviously not our best,” Aho said. “A couple good comebacks, battled till the end. Effort is there for sure, but just got to be a little bit more focused on not taking penalties and not giving them all the momentum in the game.”

The offense, or lack of defense, continued in the third period with the Caps’ Carlson tying the game, 4-4, hitting off the power play at 3:45.

“It was just a weird game for us, but every time something went wrong, we were able to dig ourselves out,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “So, I give the guys a lot of credit.”

Milano collected his hats at 8:19 for a 5-4 lead to Washington.

Seth Jarvis knotted the game, 5-5, midway through the third, scoring off a power play.

Connor McMichael hit at 13:53 of the third to give the Caps a 6-5 lead they were unable to hold.

“We had the lead, they had the lead, it kept going back and forth,” Milano said. “It was a lot of fun to be a part of, but we came through.”

Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves in the loss.