“It Don’t Come Easy” – Capitals 5, Hurricanes 2

The Carolina Hurricanes dropped game two of their regular season to the Washington Capitals, 5-2 on Friday night at the Lenovo Center. The loss gave the team a 0-1-1 record to start the season.

It was the first time the team has lost two games in a row since last January.

The visiting Capitals team looked well improved from last season as they have a few new faces. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening period and Carolina looked a bit lost. Alex Tuch scored twice and Cole Hutson had one as the Caps attacked goalie Brandon Bussi, who looked a bit overwhelmed at times.

On one play, Bussi mishandled or was slow in handling a puck behind his net and it ended up in the net, in short order.

Early in the second, the Caps scored again to make it 4-0 before Sebastian Aho could get the Canes on the board with a nice powerplay goal with three minutes and change left in the period.

Unfortunately for the home team, the Capitals won the ensuing faceoff and skated right down and scored again, on a two on one opportunity, just 8 seconds later.

In the third period, Logan Stankoven, who led the team with 11 goals in the playoffs last season, scored his first of the season with a tip of a K’Andre Miller shot.

The Canes had several powerplay chances and went, 1-6 officially on the night.

Coach Rod Brind’Amour mixed the lines up a bit throughout the contest and the Canes seemed to get their legs later in the game, but it was too little too late.

After the game, Jordan Staal said that his team was “outplayed”.

Stankoven mentioned that the Canes seemed “lethargic” at times. When a reporter mentioned that to Brind’Amour, the coach said that a couple of players needed to step up their games.

The coach was also asked why the team didn’t keep some of the “younger players” assigned to Chicago, who played so well in the preseason. Brind’Amour had none of that.

“That’s management’s decision” he said.

The Canes flew to Philadelphia right after the game for Saturday night’s match against the Flyers. We will have the preview for that game published early afternoon on Saturday.

Game Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20262027/GS020018.HTM

Event Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20262027/ES020018.HTM

Canes recap – https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/recap-canes-stumble-against-caps