Hurricanes score 5 straight in 3rd, rally past Capitals

WASHINGTON -- Brent Burns had two goals and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes scored five straight goals in the third period to rally for a 6-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Friday.

Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and two assists, including the go-ahead goal at 12:41 of the third on the power play to extend his multipoint streak to six games (seven goals, seven assists), matching the longest such run in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise history.

“I feel like it's chemistry and the power play's been clicking a lot,” Svechnikov said of the streak. “Hopefully we keep doing that. I think it's chemistry, and you get those couple games and you feel confident and I try to stick with that confidence.”

Dmitry Orlov had a goal and an assist, and Vasily Ponomarev also had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut for the Hurricanes (22-13-4), who won their fifth straight. Sebastian Aho had three assists, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 15 saves.

“Obviously, it's been a grind a little bit since the start of the year,” Burns said. “We haven't really been getting the results that we wanted, and we need to get some wins and throw some streaks together. It's been good that since the [holiday] break we've been rolling. We've got to keep it going, though.”

Nic Dowd and Dylan Strome scored for the Capitals (18-13-6), who have lost six of seven (1-4-2). Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves.

“I didn’t think it was close the entire game,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “Even though we had the 2-0 lead, it never felt comfortable. It never felt like we had any momentum -- other than on the scoreboard -- so we knew we were in a really difficult spot and couldn’t flip it.”

Svechnikov gave Carolina a 3-2 lead on the power play when he scored on a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Aho.

“Whether it’s the kill there or finding something earlier than that going the other way,” Capitals defenseman John Carlson said, “those are big moments in the game, and it doesn’t seem like we’ve captured too many of them and it’s made every game a grind right to the end.”

Burns extended it to 4-2 at 13:59, scoring a power-play goal on a slap shot from the center point off a pass from Svechnikov.

Orlov made it 5-1 at 18:11 after scoring a short-handed goal against his former team into an empty net.

Ponomarev, Carolina’s second-round pick (No. 53) in the 2020 NHL Draft, scored on a 2-on-1 rush at 19:01 for the 6-2 final. He arrived at the rink just two hours before puck drop. 

“Seven years ago, my first game what I saw in real life, it was Washington against Pittsburgh here,” he said. “It was a playoff game, and I saw how [Alex Ovechkin] and [Sidney Crosby] score, and I just dreamed big, and right now I understand how you have to dream big to be maybe in seven or maybe 10 years in this situation like they are.”

Dowd gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 7:06 of the first period, scoring alone in front after a pass from Nicolas Aube-Kubel in the left corner.

Strome made it 2-0 at 16:29 when he tipped in a centering pass from Ovechkin on a power play.

“We were having a great game and they got the one power-play goal, and then all of a sudden we’re down [2-0],” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We needed to kind of bounce back. We got those couple chances in the third and we were fortunate to cash it in, and then a huge kill at the end of the game. Special teams are always big in the game, and they were again tonight.”

Burns cut it to 2-1 at 5:17 of the second period on a one-timer in front off a pass from Svechnikov behind the end line.

Seth Jarvis tied it 2-2 at 3:23 of the third period, taking a pass from Ponomarev and scoring on a backhand shot from in front.

“For the most part we’ve been pretty good with the lead,” Strome said. “Obviously not tonight. Got to get back to work and got to stop letting these points kind of drift away from us.”

NOTES: Svechnikov’s six-game multipoint streak matches the mark set by Mike Rogers in 1979-80 and tied by Kevin Dineen in 1988-89. … Aho has a six-game point streak (three goals, 13 assists). … Orlov, who played 11 seasons with Washington before being traded to the Boston Bruins last season, received a tribute video in his first game back here. … Carlson had an assist on Strome's goal to become the third player in Capitals history to record 500 assists, joining Nicklas Backstrom (762) and Ovechkin (680). … Ovechkin had an assist to extend his point streak to four games (two goals, three assists).