On Monday night, in Raleigh, the Carolina Hurricanes hosted their Stanley Cup Playoff game in 10 years, and they made it a memorable one.
Warren Foegele struck twice and had three points in a 5-0 rout of the Washington Capitals.
The Caps lead the series by a 2-1 count.
“It felt like right from the start it was good,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Where did it come from? I don’t know. The guys, they understand the situation. We’re in a must-win situation and I think we played like that.”
Petr Mrazek made 18 saves for the shutout win; he faced a total of eight shots over the final 40 minutes of the game.
“They were a desperate team,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. “They were at a different level than we were at. We didn’t have enough players who played up to their ability tonight.”
The Caps were scoreless in four power play chances.
“We knew they weren’t going to sit back and wait for something to happen,” Alex Ovechkin said. “We knew they were going to push. We knew they were going to play hard and they did. Tonight all four lines didn’t play the right way. We didn’t play our game at all.”
Dougie Hamilton struck twice on the power-play.
“It’s obviously nice to see pucks go in,” Hamilton said. “The key is moving the puck quick and trying to make the (penalty killers) move.”
Brock McGinn added a single marker in the win.
“(Scoring) is nice, but it’s more fun winning,” Foegele said. “I think I play aggressive and I play hard. I love these moments. This is when it counts.”
[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Hurricanes highlights]
Braden Holtby made 40 saves in the loss.
“Everything can be better. We didn’t execute anything. We were slow. We didn’t play with speed. They obviously played the way they wanted to play,” Nicklas Backstrom said after the shutout loss.
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