in the period: Mike Green broke his stick while dribbling

RALEIGH, N.C. -- With his latest milestone within reach, Alex Ovechkin caught himself pressing and overthinking his play. All of a sudden, his path to history was clear. Ovechkin scored his 400th career goal into an empty net after the Washington Capitals had three power-play goals in the second period of a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. "I had a couple of chances to score, and they were good ones, but maybe I tried to make more moves than I usually do," Ovechkin said. "(An) empty-netter is (an) empty-netter. Of course I (thought) about it, but its over and its time to move on." Troy Brouwer, Marcus Johansson and John Carlson scored with the man advantage and Nicklas Backstrom assisted on all four goals to help the second-place Capitals win for the fifth time in their last seven games. Ovechkins empty-netter with 24.5 seconds left in his 634th career game made him the sixth-fastest player in NHL history to reach No. 400 and the seventh active player with that many. "As we all know, hes a pretty good goal-scorer," Backstrom said. "Its always fun to see a player accomplish something big and I think 400 goals in however many games he has, its great. We all know hes a great player." Jordan Staal and Riley Nash scored for Carolina while Cam Ward stopped 25 shots. The Hurricanes had earned at least a point in six of their previous seven games. But theyve dropped four of five with the loss to the Caps. "Five-on-5, we were all over them," Staal said. "We were the better team, 5-on-5. But three power-play goals, you cant let that happen. Thats not good enough, obviously, and thats how you lose games." Washingtons Philipp Grubauer matched a season high with 39 saves -- and got some help from the choppy ice after Alexander Semins shot with about 6 minutes left trickled just wide of the net. The Capitals have the leagues second-best power-play unit with a success rate of nearly 25 per cent. They converted all three of their chances in the second. "You dont want to have to rely on it, but whenever its going to power you through games, absolutely you want to rely on it," Brouwer said of the power play. A fortunate bounce helped the Capitals reclaim the lead at 3-2 with 4:31 left in the period: Mike Green broke his stick while dribbling a shot up the middle that clipped Brouwer on its way past Ward. "When it comes slower, obviously I get a better touch on it," Brouwer said. "I had my stick halfway up my body thinking it was going to be a higher shot because thats where he usually likes to shoot. Its almost a weird adjustment where you dont ever practice having to put your stick back down on the ice." That capped a big period for the Capitals power play. Johansson tied it 41 seconds into the second when he stuffed the puck between Wards left leg and the post. Carlson put the Capitals up 2-1 with 11:26 left -- and just 14 seconds into a holding minor on Tuomo Ruutu -- when his straightaway blast from just inside the blue line got past Ward. Carolina, which has the leagues third-worst power play, made it 2-all 2:42 later by scoring on the man advantage, with Nash making the most of Andrej Sekeras rebound. But it couldnt convert late after Carlson went off for hooking with 4:50 to play, despite peppering Grubauer with a barrage of shots from close range. The Hurricanes were playing for the first time since Dec. 14, when they wrapped up a four-point, four-game western swing with a win at Phoenix. Staal put the Hurricanes up 1-0 with 2:48 left in the first when he scored on a one-touch pass from Semin, who played seven years with the Capitals before signing with Carolina in July 2012. "We did a good job of getting after him and getting shots and getting opportunities," Staal said. "We just didnt bury them." NOTES: The Hurricanes scratched D Mike Komisarek (lower-body injury) after activating him from injured reserve earlier in the day. ... Semins point was his first since his Dec. 12 return from a concussion that cost him 12 games. Nolan Arenado Jersey . Louis Cardinals have agreed to a one-year contract. Tyler Anderson Jersey .FIFA said its appeals panel ruled the case not admissible.The former U.S. Attorney had objected to ethics judge Joachim Eckerts summary of the World Cup bid investigation, claiming numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of his work. http://www.rockiesgearproshop.com/Rockie...is-Kids-Jersey/. Eller scored the midway through the third period after Dallas scored twice to tie it, leading Canadiens to a 6-4 win over the Stars on Thursday night. Chris Iannetta Jersey . In the other Group A game, the Czech Republic stunned Canada, 5-4 in a shootout. Dominik Simon scored the deciding goal in the tiebreaker. The United States scored its first three goals on power plays. "Overall, I love to see the power-play goals we were able to get tonight," said U. Bryan Shaw Jersey . Mauer drove in two runs before leaving with an injury, Eduardo Nunez homered and the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 10-2 on Tuesday night.Sundays GamesNHLOttawa 4 Vancouver 3 (OT)Anaheim 4 Winnipeg 3 (OT)Edmonton 2 San Jose 1Detroit 3 Carolina 1---AHLTexas 2 Hamilton 1 (OT)Toronto 3 Rochester 0Lehigh Valley 5 Bridgeport 3Adirondack 1 Albany 0Hartford 4 Binghamton 2Manchester 5 Norfolk 2Providence 3 Portland 2Grand Rapids 2 Milwaukee 1 (SO)Lake Erie 4 Rockford 3 (OT)Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 3 Hershey 2San Antonio 2 Chicago 1---NBABoston 101 Washington 93Atlanta 96 Denver 84Memphis 103 Miami 87Oklahoma City 96 Detrooit 94Dallas 125 Milwaukee 102Portland 103 New York 99New Orleans 104 L.ddddddddddddA. Lakers 87---NFLN.Y. Giants 36 Tennessee 7Carolina 41 New Orleans 10Minnesota 30 N.Y. 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