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RALEIGH Nate Schmidt Jersey , N.C. — Things are going so well for the Washington Capitals that perhaps veteran center Alex Ovechkin has even improved.That’s probably about the last thing the Carolina Hurricanes need to hear in advance of Friday night’s game at PNC Arena.The Capitals produced a 6-2 home victory Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings, buoyed by Ovechkin’s hat trick that extended his point streak to 12 games.Article continues below ...“He’s having a great start to the year,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. “In particular, it has been his 5-on-5 play and converting on his chances. He’s earning it and he’s doing the things the right way and he’s being a great leader for us so far this year.”With an 18-9-3 record, Washington carries a three-game winning streak during which it has outscored opponents 14-4. Ovechkin has been at the core of this robust stretch.“I know some other year statistically have been better,” Reirden said. “But for me, it’s the best two-way hockey he has played. A lot of credit to him for what he has done.”It hasn’t been nearly as rosy recently for the Hurricanes, who are 1-4-1 in their last six games. They’re coming off Thursday night’s 6-4 loss at Montreal.For Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour, it’s a matter of staying the course and following the blueprint regardless of the most-recent outcome. He doesn’t want one game to overly impact the next.“I don’t really think coming off one game on a game or another, you really should really approach it different,” Brind’Amour said.Washington, though, has found numerous sources that it wants to keep tapping. The Capitals are proud that the fourth line of Nic Dowd http://www.goldenknightsshoponline.com/authentic-oscar-dansk-jersey , Travis Boyd and Dmitrij Jaskin has produced 12 points across the team’s first five games in December.“If you can get production from that fourth line, you can be a very difficult team to match up against,” Reirden said.One of the questions for the Capitals entering the season was how much offense would be produced from the lines other than the top line.“A lot of chemistry and they’re playing well and nice to see them get rewarded,” Reirden said. “I like that element that we can add to our team right now.”Since Tuesday, Washington defenseman Christian Djoos has missed practice with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day.The Carolina roster has been adjusted with the promotion of forward Janne Kuokkanen, who made his NHL season debut Thursday night.“Young guys coming up, you don’t want to give them too much and get them overloaded,” Brind’Amour said. “You just want to let them play and turn them loose.”Kuokkanen, 20, replaced center Jordan Staal, who was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 5 because of a concussion. It had been more than a year since Kuokkanen’s NHL debut in October 2017.The Hurricanes could be in line for another move after defenseman Haydn Fleury departed Thursday night’s game with an upper-body injury and didn’t return.This is the first of four meetings this season with the next encounter coming in less than two weeks at Washington. TAMPA, Fla. — A minor shakeup woke up the Tampa Bay Lightning while the Chicago Blackhawks continue to wait on the effect from their major shakeup earlier this month.The Lightning made a slight change to their top two lines, splitting up the duo of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov prior to Wednesday’s game against the Florida Panthers. It resulted in the pair combining for two goals and seven points in a lopsided victory against Florida despite the two playing a combined 30 seconds of ice time together at even strength.“We shook the lines up a little bit and it seemed to give everybody a little energy Authentic Oscar Lindberg Jersey ,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “But (Stamkos) was seeing it, he was feeling it a little bit. He earned all the breaks he was getting, and he was making some fabulous plays out there and that’s probably why he ends up with four points.”Article continues below ...Stamkos ended up with a season high in points and looked energized and engaged throughout the game while lined up between J.T. Miller and Yanni Gourde.“We showed some urgency,” Stamkos said. “We fed off that. The start is something we have been working on and it was a lot better tonight. … Guys were battling all night and that’s what you want to see. Compete. And when you compete, the skill takes over.”The Blackhawks, who made a coaching change on Nov. 6 bringing in Jeremy Colliton to replace Joel Quenneville, have yet to turn things around since the change was made with just two victories in seven games.Among the lowest scoring teams in the league at 2.64 goals per game, Colliton has put together a top line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad in hopes of overloading the offense for a boost.“If we play them together, they’ve got to produce,” Colliton told the Chicago Sun Times. “Sometimes when you spread them out, no one produces. By loading them up, it puts some pressure on them. But hopefully they play so well http://www.goldenknightsshoponline.com/authentic-reilly-smith-jersey , it doesn’t matter who has the puck. They’re making plays, they break through anyway, no matter who they’re playing against.”Since Colliton took over, Chicago has scored more than two goals just twice in seven games and posted a 2-3-2 record while not scoring more than three goals in any game.“We’re definitely hurting for offense right now, and that’s from top to bottom . . . the production has gone down,” Kane told the Sun Times. ”You take it upon yourself as a player that’s supposed to score and produce, be able to do that every night. It would be nice to be able to do that more often.”Wednesday night the Blackhawks fell behind the Capitals 1-0 just 54 second in. They eventually trailed 3-0 before pulling within 3-2 at 5:23 of the third period, but Washington’s Devante Smith-Pelly scored to make it 4-2 at 7:12 and that was the final.“Obviously don’t want to give up a goal like that,” Chicago’s Duncan Keith said. “It would have been nice to keep it 3-2 and add some more pressure on them.”Brandon Saad and Erik Gustafsson scored, and Corey Crawford made 23 saves for Chicago.