Logan Thompson made 27 saves and Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist in the Washington Capitals’ 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Thursday.
Connor McMichael and John Carlson also scored for the Capitals. The series is tied 1-1. Game 3 is Saturday in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Carolina is outshooting Washington 61-35 in the series, including 28-21 in Game 2. Despite this advantage, the Hurricanes have scored only three times against Thompson, who has been a force in Washington’s netthroughout the playoffs.
After stopping 27 of 28 shots in Game 2, Thompson has a .931 save percentage and a 2.01 goals-against average over the Capitals’ seven postseason games.
Shayne Gostisbehere had Carolina’s only goal, and Frederik Andersen stopped 18 of 20 shots.
After getting only 14 shots in Game 1, the Capitals had nine shots alone in the second period Thursday as part of a much more consistent offensive performance.
At 2:16 of the second period, a clearing attempt from Sean Walker hit Gostisbehere near the middle of the ice and ended up springing McMichael on a breakaway. The forward buried the wrist shot for his fourth goal of the playoffs.
The Capitals’ first strike was followed by another quick goal 1:54 into the third period. During a power play, a nice passing sequence concluded with Carlson’s shot from the circle.
Washington was 1-for-3 on the power play Thursday, finally solving Carolina’s outstanding penalty-kill unit. Before Carlson’s goal, the Hurricanes were 19-for-19 on the kill during their first six playoff games and thefirst two periods of Game 2.
The Hurricanes outshot the Capitals 17-7 in the third and made it a one-goal game on Gostisbehere’s power-play tally at the 9:26 mark. That was as close as Carolina could get, as Wilson sealed the Capitals win with anempty-net goal in the final minute.