WASHINGTON, D.C. – Carolina Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner started it and his teammates helped to finish a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center on Tuesday.
Skinner scored two goals and added an assist on the power play to give the Hurricanes a road win after recently suffering two straight losses at home to Vancouver (3-2) and New Jersey (5-2).
Goaltender Justin Peters started his first game since suffering a 4-3 loss in Detroit on Nov. 21st and made good on fortifying the Carolina net as he finished the game making 26 saves to earn his fifth win of the season, his highest total in a season since 2009-2010.
“Good game – Petey played really well in net,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said afterwards.
“He made the big saves at the right time – early on in that first power play. Our power play looked better today. Five-on-five everyone was engaged and committed. Our big line came up big – Skins with a couple of goals with Eric and Ruuts – overall, pretty happy with our effort tonight. (It was) a big game comin’ in here.”
Skinner gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead during the first period and extended it at the midpoint of the second, preceding goals from defenseman Adrej Sekera, a power play marker, and forward Jiri Tlusty that pushed the Carolina lead to 4-0 after 40 minutes of play.
Carolina outshot Washington during the final period of play (9-8), but managed to hold on for the win as the Capitals could only finish on a power play sequence that gave Peters his only blemish on the night.
After Sunday’s loss to the Canucks, Muller was at a loss for answers and questioned whether some of his players could “make the plays” needed to win games consistently over 60 minutes of play.
Skinner, who pointed out the team’s frustration in not being able to take advantage of six power play opportunities against Vancouver, took the lead in pacing his team to the win over a division rival.
“We got off to a good start,” Skinner said.
“We kept building off of it. There wasn’t any lulls [sic], and I think that’s a big part of what we were tryin’ to build towards here – playing that solid 60 minutes. We wanna’ keep tryin’ to do that. It was a good night. We wanna’ follow it up now.”