Alex Tuch scored twice in the opening period to propel the Washington Capitals to a 5-2 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center on Friday.
Washington established control early in the first period. Tuch opened the scoring at 6:33 with a wrist shot off assists from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Ovechkin. Cole Hutson doubled the lead at 11:33, scoring his first goal of the season on a snap shot set up by Ilya Protas and Aliaksei Protas. Tuch struck again at 14:23, using a backhand shot assisted by Dubois and Tom Wilson to push the advantage to 3-0.
Jakob Chychrun expanded the margin to 4-0 on a power play at 1:36 of the second period with a snap shot. Carolina answered at 16:50 when Sebastian Aho beat Logan Thompson with a power-play snap shot, assisted by Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake. Washington responded just eight seconds later as Ryan Leonard scored on a snap shot off feeds from Dylan Strome and Chychrun to make it 5-1. Logan Stankoven notched the final goal for the Hurricanes at 10:50 of the third period on a tip-in assisted by K'Andre Miller and William Carrier.
Thompson earned the win in net for the Capitals, stopping 31 of 33 shots as Washington killed five of six Carolina power plays and blocked 28 shots. Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi took the loss after turning aside 22 of 27 shots. Washington converted one of its two power-play opportunities.
The victory opened the regular season for the Capitals at 1-0-0. Carolina dropped to 0-1-1 on the season and extended its winless start to two straight games.
The Capitals host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, October 20. The Hurricanes visit the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, October 20.
