Martin Necas had a goal and two assists as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 in a Stadium Series game in front of 56,961 fans Saturday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Frederik Andersen stopped 24 shots and also recorded an assist.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Teuvo Teravainen also had one goal and one assist each, while Paul Stastny also scored for the Hurricanes, who won for the 10th time in 11 games.
Tom Wilson scored for Washington with 9:28 remaining, preventing Andersen’s first shutout of the season.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves for the Capitals, who’ve lost four games in a row and played for the third straight game without star forward Alex Ovechkin, who’s dealing with the recent death of his father.
While it was a celebration of sorts for the Hurricanes, it was a downer for the Capitals. Coach Peter Laviolette was the Carolina coach during the franchise’s only Stanley Cup championship in 2006, but on this night, he didn’t have much to relish.
It was Necas who had one of the most dazzling sequences in what largely amounted to a crowd-pleasing performance from the Hurricanes.
His goal made it 3-0 at 8:48 of the second period, a bullet from the left side. It came after a similar setup just seconds earlier when his shot sailed wide of the net.
The goal was Necas’ 22nd on the season, and less than three minutes later he set up Teravainen’s seventh goal with a nifty pass in transition.
The venue was North Carolina State’s Carter-Finley Stadium, across the parking lot from the Hurricanes’ home arena.
Kotkaniemi scored 2:11 into the game for his 10th goal of the season.
Stastny’s goal came at 5:47 of the second period, clipping the puck past Kuemper after Jalen Chatfield’s shot was too tricky for Kuemper to handle.
The Hurricanes held a 22-15 advantage in shots through two periods.
It was the first outdoor game in franchise history for the Hurricanes.
–Field Level Media
