Carlson scores three points, Capitals recover to defeat Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Dmitry Orlov scored on the power play with 2:55 remaining, and the Washington Capitals held on for a 4-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Sunday.

John Carlson had a goal and two assists, and Alex Ovechkin scored for the Capitals (14-3-5), who have won three in a row. Ilya Samsonov made 30 saves and is 9-0-1 this season.
"It became a real competitive game," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. "It was fast, there wasn't a lot of space out there."

Orlov took a pass across the slot from Tom Wilson on the go-ahead goal. The goal came five seconds after the Hurricanes had killed 90 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play for Washington.
"It was a great moment for us to win the game," Orlov said. "We had a lot of shots, a lot of recoveries. That power play was huge for us. I kind of knew I got maybe a little chance at the net, so I tried to come there and have a strong shot."
Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nino Niederreiter scored for the Hurricanes (15-4-1), who rallied from down two goals in the third period. Frederik Andersen made 21 saves.
"That's a tough way to end a game," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It was a great game. I thought we had a great third period. I thought we did everything we could."

Niederreiter tied the game 2-2 at 13:32 of the third period after a turnover by Lars Eller in the neutral zone. Martin Necas passed to Niederreiter, who lifted a wrist shot under the crossbar from between the circles.
"I try to shoot wherever it's open. I'm glad it went in," Niederreiter said. "It's obviously good to get on the scoresheet, but at the end of the day it wasn't enough to win the hockey game, so that's the bad part about it."
Kotkaniemi had cut the lead to 2-1 at 6:22 when he took a pass from Jordan Martinook and scored from the high slot.
Ovechkin gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 11:58 of the second period. Orlov took a pass from Wilson and drove the slot before feeding Ovechkin alone at the left post for a tap-in for his 749th NHL goal. He is 17 goals behind Jaromir Jagr for third in NHL history.
Aliaksei Protas
scored his first NHL goal to push the lead to 2-0 at 12:57 when his centering pass redirected off Tony DeAngelo's left skate and into the net. Protas was playing his 11th NHL game.

"It feels unreal," Protas said. "I had real good chances created by 'Ovi' and [Kuznetsov] in the first period. I just tried to put the puck in the net, play a little more simple and it got in. It's an unreal feeling."
Carolina outshot Washington 10-7 in the first period before the Capitals scored twice on 11 shots in the second.
"There were different tales between the periods," Laviolette said. "The first one was back and forth, the second one I thought was all us, the third they pushed really hard. They're a really good team."
Carlson scored into an empty net with 1:41 left for the 4-2 final.
NOTES: Ovechkin has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. … Ovechkin scored his 128th game-opening goal and surpassed Gordie Howe for third in NHL history. He is three short of Brett Hull for second. Jagr is first with 135. … Wilson has a four-game point streak (three goals, five assists). … Carlson has five multi-point games in the past seven. … Samsonov is 3-0-0 against the Hurricanes. … The Hurricanes are 0-for-14 on the power play in their past six games. … DeAngelo has a five-game points streak (one goal, five assists). … Jordan Staal was 13-of-19 on face-offs.