Capitals clinch No. 1 seed in Eastern Conference with shootout win against Hurricanes

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in a shootout at Capital One Arena on Thursday.

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored in regulation and had the only goal in the shootout for the Capitals (50-19-9), who are 8-1-0 in their past nine games at Capital One Arena. Charlie Lindgren made 30 saves for Washington.

“Obviously, it’s been a great year,” Capitals forward Dylan Strome said. “Lots of work left to do, though. Can’t be satisfied, but it’s a credit to us. I think we found a way to continue to battle throughout the whole year. We haven’t had like a bad stretch of five, six, seven in a row. We’ve kind of found a way to bounce out of it, so that’s a sign of a good team and finding ways to win and I thought we did that tonight.”

Alex Ovechkin, who was honored during a pregame ceremony for breaking the NHL record with his 895th career goal against the New York Islanders on Sunday, had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (six goals, four assists) but saw his five-game goal streak end.

“It’s great,” Ovechkin said of the ceremony. “Those numbers it’s pretty big and to see all those people who came here to celebrate with us, it’s a pretty big moment.”

Seth Jarvis scored his 31st goal of the season for the Hurricanes (46-27-5), who have lost four straight (0-3-1) but clinched the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan Division and home-ice advantage against the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference First Round by earning a point.

Frederik Andersen made 24 saves for Carolina, which rallied from down 4-2 after two periods to force overtime.

"It's adversity like that, and you've got to battle through. We're going to run into something like that in playoffs, for sure,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “It's trusting our game and keep moving forward and finding ways. … Especially in playoffs, it's going to be a battle. It'll be a lot of fun, and tonight was a good playoff-kind of style."

Jordan Martinook pulled the Hurricanes to within 4-3 with a wrist shot from the left point at 4:42 of the third period.

Jarvis then tied it 4-4 when he redirected a pass from Sebastian Aho with Andersen pulled for the extra skater at 18:15.

“The middle of the ice kind of opened up for me to skate, so I was just trying to take as much as possible,” Jarvis said. “And then [Aho’s] a very high-skill player and found me backdoor.”

Logan Stankoven put Carolina ahead 1-0 at 5:42 of the first period, scoring from the left circle off the rebound of Andrei Svechnikov’s shot moments after a Hurricanes power play ended.

Jackson Blake made it 2-0 at 7:14. Lindgren appeared to save Blake’s shot from the low slot, but Tom Wilson pushed Blake into Lindgren, and a video review of the play determined that the puck crossed the goal line.

Dubois pulled the Capitals to within 2-1 at 18:06 when he worked a give-and-go with Andrew Mangiapane on the rush and poked the return pass by Andersen for a power-play goal.

Carolina outshot Washington 15-5 in the first period.

“I thought the first period we deserved way more. Being only up one, that’s tough,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That was the part, if we look back on the game it’s probably where we needed to get more out of.”

Strome tied it 2-2 at 10:50 of the second period, scoring off a rebound from the slot on a power play.

Nic Dowd gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead at 16:51, feeding Brandon Duhaime on the rush and scoring off the rebound of Duhaime’s shot.

“I raised my hands thinking it hit the crossbar, but it’s tough even to get a shot in this league, so if it hits the bar, maybe it has a chance that it went in,” Dowd said. “I honestly didn’t think it went in. I had to look to the bench to make sure.”

Wilson made it 4-2 at 17:29 when he powered his way to the net from the right circle and buried his own rebound.

“In the second period I think we played the way we have to play in the playoffs,” said Ovechkin, who had four hits. “Physical, speed. Just controlling the neutral zone and the offensive zone.”

NOTES: Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun (illness) was a late scratch. … Dowd set a NHL career highs in goals (14) and points (26). … Strome has nine points (three goals, six assists) in a six-game point streak. … Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was scratched because of an upper-body injury.