The Carolina Hurricanes are one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference final thanks to a 5-2 victory Monday over the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of their second-round series.
The Edmonton Oilers also took a 3-1 lead in their series with a 3-0 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Sean Walker had a goal and an assist, the first two postseason points for the veteran defenseman, as did forward Taylor Hall. Shayne Gostisbehere, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes, who can punch their ticket by winning Game 5 Thursday in Washington. Frederik Andersen stopped 19 shots in the win.
Jakob Chychrun had a goal and an assist and Alex Ovechkin scored as the comeback attempt by the Capitals fell short. Logan Thompson made 32 saves.
Washington had pulled to within 3-2, but Carolina went back up by two goals when Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin’s stick got stuck in the boards.
Carolina took the early lead with Gostisbehere netting the first first-period goal of the series. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who assisted on the goal with Eric Robinson, screened Thompson on the shot with 9:36 left.
The Capitals had chances in the first period to tie the game as Carolina racked up six penalty minutes. That included a high-sticking double minor on Jordan Martinook with 3:36 left. However, Carolina’s league-best penalty killing unit in the postseason allowed the Capitals just one shot on goal while they had the advantage.
Moments after Martinook left the penalty box, Jarvis upped the Hurricanes’ lead by being in the right place at the right time just 65 seconds into the second period, pouncing on a rebound off Sebastian Aho’s shot that glanced off Thompson and the crossbar.
Washington finally found a way past Andersen when Chychrun scored on a one-timer from Matt Roy with 14:42 left in regulation. However, the Hurricanes recovered their two-goal advantage three minutes later when Jack Roslovicsprung Hall for a breakaway.
Ovechkin broke his three-game goalless streak by scoring on a 5-on-3 power play with 7:36 left. The Capitals had 1:43 remaining on the power play but could not tie the game.
Walker made it 4-2 with 3:15 left. Svechnikov’s empty-netter 54 seconds later sealed the victory.
Oilers shut out Golden Knights for 3-1 series lead
Adam Henrique scored twice to put the Oilers one win away from advancing to the conference final for the third time in four seasons. Edmonton, up will try to wrap up the series on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner made 23 saves to pick up his first win of this year’s playoffs. Skinner, who began the playoffs as the starter but struggled and lost the job, returned to the net for the past two games with Calvin Pickard injured. He posted his second career playoff shutout.
Goalie Adin Hill stopped 29 shots for the Golden Knights, who failed to build on their last-second Game 3 victory.
Henrique opened the scoring 87 seconds into the game by burying an open chance from the slot after Connor Brown won a board battle behind the Vegas net and sent a puck to him.
The Oilers controlled the bulk of the play in the opening period and went up 2-0 at 13:03 of the period when Henrique slipped home a loose puck during a scramble. Hill went after Evander Kane, who collided with him after the goal.
Kane extended Edmonton’s lead at 7:38 of the second period when he slid a shot through Hill’s legs as he drove down the wing on an odd-man rush.
Connor McDavid earned an assist on the goal, running his point-scoring streak to eight games.
During the first period, the first fight of the playoffs took place between Edmonton’s Trent Frederic and Vegas’ Nicolas Hague.