Canes oust Caps in G5 on Svechnikov's late goal

WASHINGTON -- Surviving the initial push of an opponent facing elimination, the Carolina Hurricanes scored first thanks to Jordan Staal. Riding the waves of the pressure the Washington Capitals put on them, they scored late to close out the series.

Andrei Svechnikov scored the go-ahead goal with 1:59 left as Carolina beat Washington 3-1 in Game 5 on Thursday night to move on to the Eastern Conference final for a second time in three years.

"We've been in playoffs in those kind of games for quite some time, and the guys trust our game, and I think that's the biggest thing," said Staal, whose goal was his first of the playoffs. "When you believe in what you're going to do, that it's going to work out, it just becomes more calm and more consistent that, eventually, if we continue doing what we're going, we're going to win the game, and it looks like the guys did that."

The Hurricanes improved to 10-5 in potential closeout games in seven trips to the postseason with coach Rod Brind'Amour. According to ESPN Research, it is also the team's 10th playoff series won under Brind'Amour since 2019, second only to the Tampa Bay Lightning's 11 series wins during that span.

Carolina will face either Florida in a rematch of the 2023 East final or Toronto in a reminder of 2002. The Panthers are up 3-2 with the chance to eliminate the Maple Leafs as soon as Friday night.

"We've already been in a conference final, and we know what's going to happen there," Svechnikov said. "It's not going to be easy there, and we'll see who we're going to play against, but this is the time for us to take a relaxed little bit and get ready for the next games."

They're able to play more games thanks to Frederik Andersen stopping 18 of the 19 shots he faced, including a few from Alex Ovechkin and a Grade-A scoring chance by Pierre-Luc Dubois early in the third period when the score was tied. Then, after a give-and-go with Sean Walker, Svechnikov's shot got through Logan Thompson from a bad angle to put Carolina ahead.

Seth Jarvis sealed it with an empty-net goal with 26.1 seconds remaining.

With the win over Ovechkin and the Capitals, the Hurricanes became the first team to eliminate the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer since the 1997 Flyers, who ousted Wayne Gretzky and the New York Rangers in the conference finals, according to ESPN Research.

The Capitals' season is over despite an unassisted goal by Beauvillier and some important saves from Thompson among his 18, though the two goals he allowed were not pretty.

"Credit to Freddie Andersen: I thought he was the better goalie this series," Thompson said. "I think I could have been better and made a couple saves in Raleigh and definitely tonight."

Washington started strong and had a few quality scoring chances but could not get through tight-checking defense to prolong the series.

"It was tight out there," coach Spencer Carbery said. "Liked a lot of what we did tonight. Just didn't do enough of it."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.