Capitals 5, Hurricanes 2

The Carolina Hurricanes were dominated in their final preseason game and lost to the Washington Capitals, 5-2 on Sunday afternoon at the Verizon Center.

The Canes scored two powerplay goals on nine chances and generated most of their offensive chances with the man advantage, but got very little going at even strength in this game.  Overall, the team was out-shot 38-21.

The Caps scored the first two goals of the game in a 34 second stretch to take a 2-0 lead and they never looked back.

Carolina was outshot in every period and showed little intensity throughout this contest.

Jeff Skinner was knocked out of the game just 13 seconds into his first shift as Matt Niskanen checked him with a forearm/elbow to the head.  Skinner staggered as he tried to get up from the ice and had trouble making it back to the bench.  There was no penalty called on the play.  (video of this is on the game thread).

Jiri Tlusty scored the first goal for Carolina and John-Michael Liles scored the last.

The scoresheet is not good for the Hurricanes as Justin Faulk and Nathan Gerbe each had a (-3) and there were several (-2's).

After the game coach Peters said that his team "did not compete" and that it was "unacceptable".  Skinner told his coach that he was "fine", but will be evaluated later.

The Canes will try to regroup before their regular season opener on Friday night against the New York Islanders.  They have Monday off.

Game Notes:

• Elias Lindholm left the game in the third period after being hit in the foot with the puck.  There was no update on his status.
• After two periods, the Carolina forwards only had four shots on goal.  They finished with eight, led by Eric Staal with three.  Faulk, Hainsey, and Sekera also led the team with three each.
• Anton Khudobin had a rough night but all the blame cannot be on his shoulders.  He made 33 saves on 38 shots.
• Event Summary
• Coach Peters post game interview