Hurricanes blew the doors off Capitals, but still got knocked out

The Carolina Hurricanes dominated the Washington Capitals Monday night, but the most memorable moment of the game came courtesy of Alex Ovechkin.

With a 2-0 lead in the series, the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals hit the road for Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes Monday night. Carolina won the game 5-0, and set their franchise-record playoff low by holding Washington to 15 shots, but the most memorable moment of the night came courtesy of Alex Ovechkin.

With Carolina leading 1-0 just over halfway through the first period, Ovechkin and ‘Canes rookie forward Andrei Svechnikov were engaging in each other’s air space. A couple slashes were exchanged, then things seemed to escalate very quickly into a fight.

Ovechkin obviously rarely fights, with his last brawl coming in December of 2010. But with an age and size advantage over Svechnikov, dropping the gloves Monday night invited an unfair fight.

And that’s exactly what happened, as Ovechkin quickly dazed Svechnikov and knocked him to the ice.

After the game, the Hurricanes were shocked by the fight. More specifically, Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour was not thrilled with Ovechkin’s role in escalating things.

"If you watch the video, he slashes him twice – Ovi, whack, whack – then Svech gets him back,” Brind’Amour said, per ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. “I don’t know if there’s words exchanged but, one guy’s gloves come off way first. And that’s Ovi, not our guy. So it’s a little bit frustrating because he got hurt. It’s his first fight. He’s played 90 games. He’s never fought in his life, and I’m pretty sure Ovi knew that. So that stuff bothers me."

In his postgame interview Ovechkin said he hoped Svechnikov was okay but also said the rookie wanted to fight.

“First of all I hope he’s okay,” Ovechkin said. “I’m not a big fighter. He’s the same. He asked me to fight… I hope he’s okay. You don’t want to see a guy get hurt.”

Svechnikov had to be helped off the ice, and he will likely miss Game 4 in the midst of being in concussion protocol. Time will tell if the Hurricanes turned the momentum of the series with a decisive victory, but it’s not like anyone will remember Game 3 for their 5-0 whitewashing of the Capitals.