No one finer than Carolina
McGinn’s goal 11: 05 into the second overtime stuns the defending champions.
WASHINGTON — Justin Williams returned to the building that was the scene of his only Game 7 loss and left the ice relieved and redeemed after knocking off his old friends and defending Stanley Cup champions.
The man who earned the “Mr. Game 7” moniker shook Alex Ovechkin’s hand after the Carolina Hurricanes’ stunning 4- 3 double- overtime victory over the Washington Capitals and beamed with pride in his upstart team’s latest triumph that added another piece to one of the craziest first rounds in recent NHL history. Each conference’s top seed, all four division champions and the teams that met in last year’s Cup Final are all out, and the pesky Hurricanes are storming on to face the New York Islanders in the second round.
“You can kick the snot out of each other and look each other in the eye and say, ‘ Man that was a great series, you really pushed us,’ ” Williams said. “We pushed each other.”
Carolina pushed Washington out of the playoffs by erasing a two- goal deficit and dominating two overtime periods in the thirdlongest Game 7 in NHL history. Unheralded forward Brock McGinn, who dived to prevent a Capitals goal late in regulation, redirected Williams’ shot past Braden Holtby 11: 05 into the second overtime to send his teammates into celebration and the favored Metropolitan Division champs home early.
The Hurricanes outshot the Capitals 18- 6 in the overtimes, and it was clear Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and the big guns were gassed after each surpassing 30 minutes of ice time.
“Both teams were [ tired],” said Ovechkin. “Players played a lot of minutes.”
It’s the f irst time in NHL history all four division winners were eliminated in the first round.