Faulk With OT Winner: Hurricanes 4, Capitals 3 (OT)

The Carolina Hurricanes have not had the best of luck in overtime this season but they used a perfect pass by Brandon Sutter and shot by Justin Faulk to defeat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 in the extra period on Tuesday night at the Verizon Center.

It was the rookie defenseman's eighth goal of the season and came 3:38 in overtime.

After falling behind 2-0, Jiri Tlusty scored his 15th of the season four minutes and change into the second period off of a nice pass by Jerome Samson. Eric Staal got the second assist on the play which extended his scoring streak to 12 games. The Captain's assist also set a Carolina/Hartford record for consecutive games with assists, (11).

Chad LaRose would then tie the game with a put-back of a wide Tim Gleason shot.

The game remained tied until Sutter broke into the clear just 1:45 into the third period. The young centerman put a nice move on Michal Neuvirth and roofed a backhander over the goalie to make the score, 3-2 Carolina.

But Brooks Laich would score with just 2:52 left in regulation to tie things up once again. The Caps were generating a ton of chances and had 18 shots on goal in the third period alone.

Play went back and forth in overtime until Sutter once again skated into the Washington zone with some room. He waited until the goalie committed then sent a beautiful pass to Faulk who one-timed the puck in with a perfect shot.

Cam Ward faced 49 shots in this game and made 46 saves.

Next up for Carolina will be the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night.

Game Notes:

• The rookie Faulk had a team high 24:21 of ice time, three shots on goal, one takeaway, a team high three blocked shots, and two hits. Not a bad night's work.
  
• Staal's 12 game point streak is the longest in the NHL this season. He has 21 points in that span.
• While the Canes were outshot 49-36, they had plenty of chances themselves. Jussi Jokinen and Chad LaRose led the way with six shots each.
• Anthony Stewart was -2 and was moved off of Staal's line early in the second. Samson took his spot for awhile, but both skaters only winded up with eight minutes and change of ice time. Derek Joslin played 4:10.
• The Canes dominated in the faceoff circle and won 62% of their draws. (Staal 63%, Sutter 69%, Jokinen 65%, Brent 70%, Dwyer, 0%, Skinner 0%)
• The team had 24 hits led by Tim Brent with 3.
• For postgame quotes check out Canes PR.com.