WASHINGTON, DC — The Carolina Hurricanes' place in the standings, five points behind No. 8-seeded Buffalo as the night began, was on Jeff Skinner's mind during their game against the Washington Capitals. But he wasn't scoreboard-watching the Sabres' game against the Leafs in Toronto.
"I didn't see it. A couple of guys were saying that Buffalo won right as we were going [into the shootout]," he said.
Actually, the Toronto Maple Leafs held on to defeat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3. Which, you know, really helped Carolina.
"Oh, OK," said Skinner, the 18-year-old rookie in his first NHL playoff race. "It's fun. You always want to be in the hunt."
The fun continues for the Hurricanes for another game. Carolina beat the Capitals for the first time this season, 3-2 in the shootout, to cut their deficit to three points. Both the Canes and the Buffalo Sabres have played 76 games. Both teams play on Wednesday night and Saturday night, before meeting for a critical contest on Sunday in Carolina.
It's a playoff race that demands focus from the Hurricanes, which they admittedly lost in the second period -- giving up two Capitals goals and causing Coach Paul Maurice to get their attention between periods.
"We just couldn't lose sight of the fact that this game was much more important to us than what was going on in that second period," he said. "I don't understand what was going on. We had to refocus."
They did, in the third period, playing a conservative game that resulted in Skinner's soft goal against Semyon Varlamov to tie it. Skinner and Tuomo Ruutu scored in the shootout to give Carolina the 3-2 win. Cam Ward, who made 38 saves, was perfect in the skills competition.
"I don't know, there were some places we weren't so happy about. We started bitching. But we regrouped ourselves pretty good," said Ruutu on the team's second period. "We had that one chance in the third period to score a goal, and we did. That's hockey. That's emotions. I'd rather be too loud than to be too quiet.
"It took 65 minutes, but it doesn't matter. We got two points. That's all that matters."