Capitals finding ways to shut down Rangers' Nash

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Washington Capitals have been effective in their goal to shut down New York Rangers forward Rick Nash in the Eastern Conference Second Round and look to continue that success in Game 4 on Wednesday at Verizon Center (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVA Sports 2).

Nash has been held to one point, an assist, through three games in the best-of-7 series, which the Capitals lead 2-1.

"I think we've contained him fairly well," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "[It's] strong 1-on-1 battles, good matchups and a five-man mentality on taking away time and space. It's no different than anybody else that you do in the regular season."

Throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs the Capitals have maintained a calm confidence. Nothing seems to rattle them. Defenseman Karl Alzner said it's a result of a mindset they tried to have all season that every game is a playoff game.

"We weren't in the greatest position in the standings in the middle of the year," Alzner said. "We were always trying to take every game as [seriously] as a playoff game and try to play that style because everybody talks about not being able to play that style and flip a switch. We didn't want to have to change everything coming into the playoffs if we made it."

The Capitals have won all four games following a loss through 10 games in the playoffs. That ability to rebound is a result of the consistency they've had all season.

"We try and bounce back after everything," Alzner said. "It doesn't matter if it's a goal or it's a loss. We try to be better the next day and change things. It has to do with what we do away from the ice, the video stuff. We break things down really [well]. The coaches do a good job of preparing us for fixing the flaws from the game before. We get angry and we want to win. That's the main thing."

Trotz hasn't made any lineup changes since Game 7 of the first round, when forward Curtis Glencross played after being a healthy scratch for three games.

"I like what I see and the consistency," Trotz said. "I don't think we need to change if one game they're off a little bit. I think they've been pretty good. They complement each other."

Here are the projected lineups:

RANGERS

Rick Nash - Derick Brassard - Martin St. Louis

Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Jesper Fast

Carl Hagelin - Kevin Hayes - J.T. Miller

James Sheppard - Dominic Moore - Tanner Glass

Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi

Marc Staal - Kevin Klein

Keith Yandle - Dan Boyle

Henrik Lundqvist

Cam Talbot

Scratched: Ryan Bourque, Matt Hunwick, Chris Summers

Injured: Mats Zuccarello (upper body)

CAPITALS

Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Joel Ward

Marcus Johansson - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Jason Chimera

Andre Burakovsky - Jay Beagle - Troy Brouwer

Curtis Glencross - Brooks Laich - Tom Wilson

Brooks Orpik - John Carlson

Matt Niskanen - Karl Alzner

Mike Green - Tim Gleason

Braden Holtby

Justin Peters

Scratched: Michael Latta

Injured: Eric Fehr (upper body), John Erskine (neck surgery), Dmitry Orlov (wrist)

Status report: Fehr participated in the morning skate for the second day in a row but won't play in Game 4. There is no timetable for his return.

Who's hot: Ovechkin has eight points in his past 10 playoff games and three points in his past three games.