Clyde's Shots: Capitals-Hurricanes, February 26, 2013

With 40 shots, the Washington Capitals outshot Clyde's 39 shots.

Capitals-Hurricanes Postgame Quote Sheet

Via the team, quotes following tonight's win:

Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates his confidence in Braden Holtby…

"He’s playing very well. [Carolina] had a few extra shots, but chances wise they didn’t have a lot of chances tonight. A lot of those shots he sees from a long way out. I think he’s feeling really good. He’s on a little roll, so we’re riding him."

Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on tonight’s win and going into the game tomorrow against the Flyers …

"We’ll enjoy it for a little while and then tomorrow morning we’re going to focus on Philly, and we have to get back to work."

Washington Capitals defenseman John Erskine on playing more this season…

"I love the ice time. It’s fun in this system. Oatesy [Adam Oates] lets us jump up in the play more as long as we’re safe about it, and it gives us more offensive chances."

Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward on the play of the Capitals tonight…

"If you get chances, that means you are doing some good things. I’ve had a few tonight myself and some other guys as well. Obviously, it’s a good feeling, getting chances. I thought we played a good team game. Every line was going and everyone had chances."

Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson on the play of the Capitals…

"I think it’s been going great. The best part of the whole scenario is that from day one, everyone stuck to it. When we were losing games and we were playing bad, guys didn’t come in the room and question anything. We stayed as a team and we did the right things. Clearly it took a little bit longer than any of us would like, but in the end hopefully it works out for the better."

Carolina Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller on the play of Carolina…

"I was happy with the effort tonight…We had some opportunities to score. We didn’t score on those, couple of 2 on ones, a breakaway. They gave it everything they had."

Carolina Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller on the early breakaway by Eric Staal and Alexander Semin…

"That was a pretty classy move that Eric [Staal] had there. Has the breakaway and lays it up to him [Alexander Semin] to give him the opportunity to be the hero early on in the game. But he [Braden Holtby] made the save. That could have been the difference right there."

Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal on the play of the Hurricanes…

"We had about 5 minutes where we were starting to get some momentum. We were feeling pretty confident going into the third. We just couldn’t find that extra push to get that first goal."

Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal on the power play to start the third and the need to score more goals…

"Power play [goal] would have been big. We need to find a way to score goals on the power play. We’ve been getting a little momentum off of it but just not enough."

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Joe Corvo on the play of the Capitals…

"This is a tough place to play. They’re all over you the whole time. They don’t give you much time. They’re anticipating in our defensive zone where we are going to move the puck, so they don’t think about – they’re just all over the puck. And we didn’t do a good job of getting clean outs."

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Joe Corvo on the play of Carolina goalie Cam Ward…

"He played really well, especially in the second to keep us in there. He definitely gave us a chance. We needed to score one goal somewhere in the second period to make a really exciting third, but we didn’t do so.

Capitals vs. Hurricanes Recap: Holtby Shuts Out Carolina, Caps win 3-0

Braden Holtby spoiled Alexander Semin's return to Washington as the Caps win 3-0.

Capitals vs. Hurricanes Third Period Thread

John Erskine celebrates his new contract with a goal to double the Caps' lead.

Third period ahead...

Capitals vs. Hurricanes Second Period Thread

Alexander Semin nearly scores on a Caps power-play a few minutes before Nicklas Backstrom actually does to give the home team a 1-0 lead they'd carry into the intermission.

Second period ahead...

Tonight's Lines: Green, Backstrom and Chimera All In

Per Mike Vogel, Mike Green will make his return to the lineup tonight (Jeff Schultz will sit), and Nicklas Backstrom and Jason Chimera - both of whom were questionable yesterday - are in. Expect to see these lines and defensive pairings in front of Braden Holtby in net:

Jason Chimera - Mike Ribeiro - Alex Ovechkin

Eric Fehr - Nicklas Backstrom - Troy Brouwer

Wojtek Wolski - Mathieu Perreault - Joel Ward

Matt Hendricks - Jay Beagle - Joey Crabb

Karl Alzner - Mike Green

John Erskine - John Carlson

Tom Poti - Tomas Kundratek

That leaves Schultz, Roman Hamrlik and recently recalled Casey Wellman as healthy scratches, and Brooks Laich, Jack Hillen and Marcus Johansson (who was retroactively placed on injured reserve today) out with injuries.

Capitals vs. Hurricanes Game Thread

Alexander Semin's return to Washington highlights a critical Southeast Division match-up