Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals

Capitals beat the Hurricanes in a shootout to secure the 1st playoff seed in the Eastern Conference

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the shootout winner after the Capitals rallied from a 2-0 deficit, then blew a 4-2 lead, with Carolina's Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis scoring in the third period to tie it. That came after Washington's scoring spree in the second, with Dylan Strome, Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson all putting goals past Frederik Andersen.

Alex Ovechkin assisted on Strome's goal, his 26th of the season, after getting honored in a pregame ceremony for scoring his 895th career goal to break Wayne Gretzky's NHL record on Sunday at the New York Islanders.

Dubois also scored in regulation, while Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves and stayed in the game after a nasty collision seven minutes in on Carolina’s second goal.

The Hurricanes, who are locked into second place in the Metropolitan Division and a first-round matchup against New Jersey, got to overtime but lost their fourth in a row. Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake also scored, and Andersen allowed four goals on 28 shots in regulation.

Brandon Duhaime and Jalen Chatfield dropped the gloves early to settle a score from the teams’ game last week. The Capitals were unhappy with Chatfield’s takedown of Connor McMichael at the end of their fight.

Takeaways Hurricanes: Goaltending may be an issue, and coach Rod Brind’Amour may need to consider Pyotr Kochetkov over Andersen in the playoffs.

Capitals: After moving past Ovechkin getting the record, this was more the kind of hockey they want to be playing this late in the regular season.

Key moment Lindgren did not allow a goal in the shootout.

Key stat Ovechkin has 23 points in his past 19 games dating to March 1.

Up next Hurricanes host the New York Rangers on Saturday, just after the Capitals play at Columbus.

Series tied 2-2