WASHINGTON ¨C Brooks Orpik scored less than two minutes into overtime, Alex Ovechkin had two assists and the Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Saturday to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.
The tone was set for a wacky afternoon when a rat fell out of a hallway ceiling during the Hurricanes¡¯ pregame soccer match. The weird vibes lasted long after the dead rat was removed ¡ª from a questionable ejection for a check to the head to a shot off one goalie¡¯s mask and another that went in off the other goalie¡¯s backside.
Ovechkin assisted on goals by Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson to help put Washington up two games to none in a series for just the third time in the past five years. In perhaps his final NHL postseason, Orpik scored 1:48 into the extra period of the Capitals¡¯ first overtime playoff game since they eliminated Pittsburgh in the second round a year ago.
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