Hurricanes ‘have to be better’ following loss in Game 2 of Eastern 2nd Round

WASHINGTON -- The Carolina Hurricanes will go home with a split of the first two games in their Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Washington Capitals but were left wondering what might have been after a 3-1 loss in Game 2.

After outshooting Washington 33-14, tying it in the third period and winning 2-1 in overtime in Game 1 here Tuesday, Carolina was unable to replicate that outcome at Capital One Arena on Thursday.

“Yeah, I mean, obviously it’s great to come in here and get a win, but I think at the end of the day, I think we kind of feel like we definitely could have put a better effort forward there tonight and maybe gave ourselves a better chance of definitely winning the game," Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker said.

In Game 1, the Hurricanes had 94 shot attempts to 34 for the Capitals. The Game 2 disparity was 86-50 for Carolina, including 28-21 in shots on goal, with Washington blocking 33 shots and Logan Thompson stopping 27.

As in Game 1, the Capitals took a 1-0 lead in the second period. Walker’s entry attempt hit teammate Shayne Gostisbehere in the neck, and Washington forward Connor McMichael got the loose puck and scored on a breakaway.

“You don't really see that too often,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “But there was other plays that they could have scored [on], too, that would have made the game what it was. We have to be better, that's for sure. We knew it was going to be hard. Having said that, we were still right in the game.”

The Capitals increased the lead to 2-0 on John Carlson’s power-play goal early in the third period before Gostisbehere’s goal on the man-advantage at 9:26 pulled the Hurricanes to within 2-1. With goalie Frederik Andersen pulled for an extra attacker, Tom Wilson’s empty-net goal at 19:00 sealed the win for Washington.

The Hurricanes had a 17-7 advantage in shots on goal in the third.

Now they return home for Game 3 of the best-of-7 series Saturday (6 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS). The Hurricanes were 31-9-1 at Lenovo Center during the regular season and 3-0 against the New Jersey Devils in the first round. They also won both regular-season games against the Capitals in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“It’s always nice to be in front of our fans, and we're going to have to take that momentum back and use our fans to do it,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “You know, we'd love to be up two, but it's a good team, and we're going to have to start fresh at home here and take it to them again.”

Being at home will enable Carolina to dictate the matchups with the last change in what has been a tight-checking, physical series.

“I think the matchups, obviously home ice is important,” Walker said. “To get the matchups we want I think is something that can definitely sway a series. I think everyone’s playing pretty good right now. If you don’t get them you don’t get them, but definitely it’s something going home that we’ll be looking forward to.”

Carolina’s dominant Game 1 effort left Washington looking for answers. The Capitals played much better in Game 2, according to coach Spencer Carbery.

Now it’s the Hurricanes’ turn to adjust.

“I think the positive you can take away is that when we’re playing our game I think we really controlled the momentum of the game,” Walker said. “Had a lot more time in their zone and created a lot more, for sure. We’ll look at it tomorrow. I think we know we got away from our game there a little bit and they capitalized and kind of took away from our momentum. So we’ll look at it and move on.”