Capitals, Holtby hold Hurricanes scoreless in 5-0 win
WASHINGTON -- Braden Holtby picked up his seventh shutout of the season, five different players scored and the Washington Capitals defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0 on Tuesday night for their 10th straight home win.
Holtby, 12-0-0 in his last 14 games with four shutouts, stopped 23 shots in picking up his 30th career shutout. It was Washington's second straight shutout as backup goalie Philipp Grubauer beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-0 on Sunday.
Alec Ovechkin, Brett Connolly and Marcus Johansson each had a goal and an assist for Washington. Lars Eller and Evgeny Kuznetsov also had goals, and Matt Niskanen added two assists.
Washington (37-11-6) has won four straight overall and picked up at least one point in 19 of their last 21 games. Carolina (24-21-7) had won three straight.
Goaltender Eddie Lack, who was activated from injured reserve this past weekend, made his first start since early November and stopped 23 shots.
Carolina had the better chances early in the first period, but the momentum shifted when Ron Hainsey was called for tripping at 8:58.
Ovechkin made it 1-0 1:25 later when he blasted a shot from his usual spot in the left circle. Lack got a piece of it, but the puck caromed in for Ovechkin's 26th goal of the season.
Connolly made it 2-0 with 6:13 left in the period when he faked a shot from high in the slot, skated to his right and fired a high wrister past Lack from the right circle.
The Capitals have outscored opponents 58-23 in the first period this season, and Washington is 31-4-4 when scoring first.
Carolina's Sebastian Aho had the best chance in a scoreless second 20 minutes, but his breakaway attempt was stopped by Holtby midway through the period.
Eller made it 3-0 at 6:10 of the third period when he got a pass from Connolly as he entered the zone and fired a shot from the top of the left circle for his 10th goal of the season.
It was 4-0 just 27 seconds later as Kuznetsov scored from the slot. It was his 12th of the season and seventh in his last 10 games.
Johansson closed out the scoring with his 17th goal of the season with 5:48 remaining.
NOTES: The Capitals had scored five or more goals in their previous eight home games. ... Washington is in the midst of playing seven games in 12 days leading up to their bye week. ... D Taylor Chorney was scratched for Washington. ... G Cam Ward had started 26 of Carolina's past 27 games. ... LW Jeff Skinner did not practice Monday but was in the Hurricanes' lineup. Carolina scratches included RW Ty Rattie, D Matt Yennyson and D Ryan Murphy. ... The Hurricanes' longest winning streak of the season was five games from Nov. 12 to Nov. 22.