Walker, Svechnikov score late as Hurricanes push Capitals to brink of elimination in 5-2 win

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sean Walker cut to the middle of the ice and beat Logan Thompson for a critical late goal, then Andrei Svechnikov followed with an empty-net clincher to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 5-2 on Monday night and take a 3-1 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Carolina improved to 5-0 at home in the playoffs and can clinch a second trip to the Eastern Conference final in three years by winning Game 5 in Washington on Thursday.

“If I'm just honest with how I feel about it, I thought our first two games (on the road) might've been better than some of these games — just the chances we've given up, a little too much here for me,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “But obviously at this time of year, it's about results. I like where we're at, that's for sure.”

Walker's score was a big one, coming after the Capitals had pulled to within 3-2 on Alex Ovechkin's one-timer blast on a 5-on-3 power play with about eight minutes left. It started on a puck battle and the unusual sight of Washington's Rasmus Sandin skating in only to get the blade of his stick stuck in a gap along the boards, allowing Taylor Hall to collect the puck and flip a pass to the surging Walker up the left side.

Walker hesitated to cut behind Jack Roslovic and score at the 16:45 mark to push the lead back to 4-2, marking his first career postseason goal.

Svechnikov followed with his seventh postseason goal shortly after the Capitals pulled Thompson, the capper after Carolina twice led by two goals but had to hold on through the final 10 minutes.

“I think as a whole, we kind of kept our composure,” Walker said. “Didn't really panic, just stuck to our systems.”

Hall, Seth Jarvis and Shayne Gostisbehere also scored for the Hurricanes, while Frederik Andersen carried a shutout into the third before finishing with 19 saves.

Just as importantly, the Hurricanes twice responded as the Capitals inched within a goal in the third. Hall's score on a 1-on-1 chance came less than three minutes after Jakob Chychrun had brought the Capitals to within 2-1, sprung on a long pass from Roslovic after he was slow coming back and Washington's defense lost track of him.

Walker's score came about 4 1/2 minutes after Ovechkin's goal.

Ovechkin's blast got the NHL's career goals leader on the scoresheet for the first time this series. Thompson finished with 32 saves.

“We're giving ourselves some opportunities, we're just not executing, making the play, whatever you want to call it,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “And making some mistakes — and they're capitalizing.”

To that point, the Eastern Conference's top seed got a quick start after a Game 3 shutout, starting with Connor McMichael getting a 1-on-1 chance on Andersen in the opening minute. Aliaksei Protas followed by ringing the right post shortly after.

Washington also managed just one shot on goal during a 4-minute power play, the first 3 1/2 minutes of those coming to close the first period.

“Their penalty kill is excellent, best in the league, has been for the last, whatever, five years call it,” Carbery said. “But it can't look like that. It cannot look like that.”

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Carolina Hurricanes' Taylor Hall (71) celebrates his goal with teammate Jack Roslovic (96) during the third period of Game 4 of second-round playoff series against the Washington Capitals in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Eric Robinson (50) battles for the puck with Washington Capitals' Nic Dowd (26) with Hurricanes' Jesperi Kotkaniemi (82) nearby during the first period of Game 4 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Logan Stankoven (22) has his shot blocked by Washington Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson (48) during the first period of Game 4 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Washington Capitals' Tom Wilson (43) controls the puck in front of Carolina Hurricanes' Dmitry Orlov (7) during the second Game 4 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Sean Walker (26) controls the puck in front of Washington Capitals' Connor McMichael (24) during the first period of Game 4 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

NEW YORK (AP) — Mourners are paying their respects to former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel as his body lies in state Thursday at New York City Hall, an honor bestowed to a short list of political figures, including U.S. presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.

The outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat died May 26 at a New York hospital. He was 94.

Rangel spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

His funeral takes place Friday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown Manhattan. A wake was held Tuesday at a church in Harlem, the upper Manhattan neighborhood where Rangel, nicknamed the “Lion of Lenox Avenue,” was born and raised.

Rangel’s body arrived at City Hall on Wednesday, where there was a private evening viewing for his family in the landmark neoclassical building at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in lower Manhattan.

On Thursday morning, a small group of mourners quietly came to pay their respects in City Hall as the surrounding streets bustled with tourists and workers.

Rangel’s closed casket sat in the building’s marbled rotunda draped with an American flag. Uniformed police stood at rigid attention on either side of him, backed by the state and nation’s flags.

Mike Keogh, a 63-year-old lobbyist and former city council staffer, was among those who knew Rangel personally.

“He had the greatest voice in New York politics at the time. It was so rich and so full,” recalled Keogh. “It just made you feel really warm to be around him and to really hang on every word.”

Tina Marie grew up in Harlem and recalled Rangel as a part of the neighborhood’s famed Gang of Four— Black Harlemites who rose to the very top of city and state politics in the 1970s through the 1990s.

The others were David Dinkins, New York City’s first Black mayor; Percy Sutton, who was Manhattan Borough president; and Basil Paterson, a deputy mayor and New York secretary of state.

“I didn't get to make the other three people’s funerals so I wanted to come and pay my respects,” said Marie, who now works for the state education department steps from City Hall. “I didn’t agree with all the things they did, but they stood up for people who couldn’t stand up for themselves.”

Besides Presidents Lincoln and Grant, the others accorded the City Hall honors after death include statesman Henry Clay, newspaper publisher Horace Greeley and Civil War generals Abner Doubleday and Joseph Hooker.

The last person to lie in state in City Hall was City Councilman James Davis, who was assassinated by a political opponent in the council’s chambers, located the floor above the rotunda, in 2003.

Doors opened for the public to pay their respects to Rangel at 9 a.m. Thursday.

The viewing will run until 5 p.m. and will be followed by an honor guard ceremony with pallbearers representing the 369th Regiment, an all-Black unit from World War I known as the Harlem Hellfighters.

Rangel’s funeral at St. Patrick’s on Friday will also be public and livestreamed.

The Korean War vet defeated legendary Harlem politician Adam Clayton Powell in 1970 to start his congressional career.

Rangel went on to become the dean of the New York congressional delegation and the first African American to chair the powerful Ways and Means Committee in 2007.

He was censured in 2010 by his fellow House members -- the most serious punishment short of expulsion -- following an ethics scandal.

Rangel relinquished his post on the House’s main tax-writing committee, but continued to serve until his retirement in 2017, becoming one of the longest-serving members in the chamber’s history.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also a New York Democrat, lauded Rangel as a “patriot, hero, statesman, leader, trailblazer, change agent and champion for justice” when his death was announced last month.

American flag and New York State flag are lowered at half staff while the casket of former Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., lies in state in the rotunda of New York's City Hall, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

People stand on the stairs to see the casket of former Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., in the rotunda of New York's City Hall, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The casket of former Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., lies in state in the rotunda of New York's City Hall, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The casket of former Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., lies in state in the rotunda of New York's City Hall, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)