NHL Game Preview - Carolina at Washington

Sat Oct 5, 2019 7:00 PM EDT

The Washington Capitals will open their home season on Saturday night after beating two 2019 playoff teams on the road, with their next opponent the team that ended their season much earlier than expected last spring.

The Carolina Hurricanes stunned Washington -- then the defending Stanley Cup champions -- in a first-round playoff series, beating the Capitals in double overtime in Game 7. So Washington probably will be a bit fired up for this game even though it's not a postseason situation.

The Capitals have been balanced in their first two games, a 3-2 win over defending the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues on Wednesday and a 2-1 victory against the New York Islanders on Friday.

Washington came back from a 2-0 deficit at St. Louis, winning thanks to a Jakub Vrana overtime goal. On Friday, Vrana scored in the first period, and it was a T.J. Oshie backhand slash/shot from his knees that gave the Caps a power-play goal late in the second period that won it.

Goalie Ilya Samsonov made his NHL debut for Washington and stopped 25 shots. He was the team's first-round draft pick in 2015 and could very well be the goalie of the future. Braden Holtby is in the final year of his contract, and the Capitals reassigned Pheonix Copley (last year's No. 2 goalie) to Hershey of the AHL after he made it through waivers this week.

"I thought I was going to be more nervous, but no, I felt normal," Samsonov said postgame in Russian, according to the Washington Post. "The guys all helped and said there's nothing scary. I felt great, it was a good game, and I'm happy we won."

The Capitals were much more active this offseason than last, improving their defense and bottom six on offense. They also are about to get back defenseman Michal Kempny, who's been out since late March with a hamstring injury that required surgery. Losing Kempny and then Oshie in the playoffs really hurt Washington.

Even so, the highly charged Hurricanes took it to the Caps throughout the series. They had much more energy, forechecked furiously and made it very difficult for Washington to get the puck out of its own end.

That's why Carolina made it to the Eastern Conference finals. The Hurricanes also began this season well, beating the visiting Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout Thursday night.

Dougie Hamilton got the lone Carolina goal in the shootout while goalie Petr Mrazek saved each of the three shots he faced. Mrazek made 33 saves through regulation and overtime.

The Hurricanes also made some moves in the offseason, bringing in Ryan Dzingel and Erik Haula, and they should help replace the loss of veteran Justin Williams on offense. The offensive unit should be faster this season and cause more trouble for opponents.

Haula hadn't played since sustaining a season-ending knee injury last November with the Vegas Golden Knights. However, on Thursday, Haula scored the third-period goal that tied the game at 3 and sent it into overtime and eventually a shootout.

"He works hard," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said, according to the team's website. "It's nice to see a newcomer contribute right away. I think that's going to help him feel good about where his game is."

The Hurricanes will get help from other players, too, especially Sebastian Aho, who remains with the team after Carolina matched the five-year, $42.3 million offer sheet he signed with the Canadiens as a restricted free agent. He posted five goals and seven assists in 15 playoff games last season.

--Field Level Media