Charlie Lindgren stellar as Capitals beat Hurricanes

Charlie Lindgren stopped 24 shots and the Washington Capitals benefitted from goals late in the first two periods to defeat the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 in a matchup of two of the top teams in the Metropolitan Division on Friday night.

Aliaksei Protas, Jakub Vrana and Connor McMichael scored for the Capitals, who ended a two-game slide.

Seth Jarvis scored for the Hurricanes, who were unable to recapture the momentum coming off a 3-1-0 homestand. Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves.

The Capitals had scored a total of three goals in their previous two games combined, so they were looking for a lift.

The first one came when Protas tipped in a shot with 43 seconds to play in the first period off a delivery from Andrew Mangiapane. It was his first goal in four games.

Then Washington scored twice in the last four minutes of the second period.

Vrana's goal came with 3:49 to play. McMichael got his goal with 27 seconds remaining.

Vrana, who had missed a few weeks with an injury, hadn't scored since Nov. 17. McMichael posted his first goal in six games and his team-leading 16th of the season.

Jarvis' shot beat Lindgren on the short side with 9:38 to play in the game, so the Hurricanes avoided a shutout. It came on one of Carolina's 10 shots in the final period.

The Hurricanes began the third period with a good flurry of offense, but lack of execution around the net turned out to be costly.

With about six minutes to play, the Capitals appeared to score and restore a three-goal lead. The goal was wiped out because of goalie interference after review.

Lindgren, who won his 10th game of the season, joined teammate Logan Thompson (12) with a double-digit win total.

Both teams were 0-for-2 on power plays.

The teams have now split two meetings this season. They won't meet again until April.

--Field Level Media