RALEIGH, N.C. — Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 26th goal 1:57 into overtime, and the Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 on Tuesday night for their third straight win.
Ovechkin also tied it with 7:15 left in regulation, with Nicklas Backstrom assisting on both goals. Alex Chiasson, Devante Smith-Pelly and Dmitry Orlov each scored for the Capitals, who went to overtime for the sixth time in eight games.
Teuvo Teravainen and Elias Lindholm scored in the third period, and Victor Rask had two goals for the Hurricanes, who trailed by two midway through the second. They rallied to take a short-lived lead midway through the third before Ovechkin struck twice to end their six-game home winning streak.
After Sebastian Aho hit the post in OT for Carolina, Ovechkin headed the other way and fired a shot from the right circle that beat Cam Ward to end it.
Ward made 21 saves for the Hurricanes, who turned a one-goal deficit into a lead in bang-bang fashion.
Lindholm tied it with 14:20 left on a snap shot from between the circles. Aho’s forecheck started the sequence that ended with a shot by Teravainen that caromed off the back boards, off the stick of Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik and into the net with 12:53 remaining.
Ovechkin tied it at 4 when he beat Ward with a slick backhand.
Braden Holtby stopped 34 shots for the Capitals, who turned an early self-inflicted deficit into a two-goal lead midway through the second.
Chiasson tied it 78 seconds after Rask’s goal, off a slick backdoor feed from Chandler Stephenson. Smith-Pelly put Washington up 2-1 with 7:07 left in the first on a snap shot from the circle that beat Ward stick side.
Orlov made it 3-1 with 11:12 left in the second when he chased down his rebound and poked it past Ward.
The Capitals host the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
The Hurricanes begin a four-game road trip Thursday night at Pittsburgh.
NOTES: Carolina C Lucas Wallmark went to the dressing room with an injury midway through the third. … Washington D Matt Niskanen (upper body injury) didn’t make the trip. … This was the first of three meetings between the teams during an 11-day span. The division rivals play only once more after that, on March 30 in Washington.
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