By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer
MORRISVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes dominated play for one road game then spent significant stretches of the next controlling the flow of action. It was a two-game start good enough to take home-ice advantage away from the Washington Capitals in their second-round playoff series.
“I’ve liked how we’ve played,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said Friday.
Now the Hurricanes are set to host the Capitals for Game 3 on Saturday, the winner taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series. That’s one of two Game 3s in the NHL on the schedule, the other being Edmonton returning home with a chance to take a 3-0 series lead on Vegas.
Carolina won 2-1 in overtime to open the Eastern Conference series, though it took the Hurricanes well into the third period to beat Logan Thompson for the first time on a night when they otherwise dominated play. The Hurricanes kept firing shots and using the forecheck to aggressively keep the pressure on in the offensive zone, finishing with a 33-14 edge in shots on goal, as well as scoring chances (40-20) and high-danger chances (19-13) according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Capitals responded with a 3-1 win in Thursday’s Game 2 and did a better job of countering the Hurricanes’ steady pressure, led by the two-way presence of Tom Wilson.
“I have a lot of belief in our group and I feel like Game 1 to Game 2 and significant parts of Game 2, you can see us getting to the level that we’re going to need to play at,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said, “and it’s going to even get a little bit more difficult going on the road.”
Now the series shifts to Raleigh, where the Hurricanes won all three of their games in the first-round win against New Jersey. Carolina will have the backing of a raucous home crowd and the benefit of last change when it comes to sending out lineups after the whistle to hunt for the best matchup.
“Matchups play a role, a significant role in the series, and it’s our job to navigate it and whether we get the last change or not and the things that I can do to manipulate some of the matchups,” Carbery said.
For the Hurricanes, the goal is to convert more of those steady streams of shots into scores. Carolina ranked second in the league during the regular season by averaging 31.68 shots compared to Washington ranking 22nd at 27.62. After getting that big edge in Game 1, it was much tighter (28-21) for Carolina in Game 2, though the Hurricanes turned up the pressure with a 17-7 edge in third-period shots.
Despite all of that, the Hurricanes have the same number of 5-on-5 goals as the Capitals so far (two).
“Obviously last night I think we could’ve been a little better,” said Carolina defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who had the Hurricanes lone Game 2 goal on the power play. “Credit to them, they played a better game for sure. I think for us it’s just getting back to it. We know what type of game we play, everyone does, and we’re just going to keep doing it.”
Vegas Golden Knights at Edmonton Oilers
When/Where to Watch: Game 3, Saturday, 9 p.m. EDT (TNT, truTV)
Series: Oilers lead 2-0.
Edmonton’s Calvin Pickard has been a journeyman goalie and Adin Hill — though not considered a Vezina Trophy-type of goaltender — helped lead the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup two years ago.
But through two games, Pickard has had the upper hand.
He was especially critical in Thursday night’s 5-4 overtime victory that put the Oilers two wins from advancing go the Western Conference final.
“It’s not too often after a game where a goalie lets in four goals that you’re raving about how well he played,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “He stole one for us. If you’re going to have a long run in the playoffs, you’re going to need games once in a while from your goalie to play like that and steal one.”
Pickard was instrumental in helping the Oilers come back from 2-0 down to Los Angeles in the first round and win four consecutive games.
Hill’s postseason has been more uneven.
He began slowly in the first-round series against Minnesota and finished strong. The Golden Knights will need him to again after he gave two soft goals in a three-goal second period in Game 2.
“There’s positions and areas of the game you’ve got to outplay them,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He’s going to have to do that at some point.”
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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno in Washington and AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson in Las Vegas contributed to this report.