Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin took it one step further.
"If we play the way we are capable of playing, we will be able to bounce back," Ovechkin said. "Like I said after the second game, we're going to come back [to Washington] for a Game 5 and Game 5 is going to be tied. It's going to start all over again."
The Blue Jackets are intent on preventing that outcome.
They're also trying to balance the excitement of being ahead in any playoff series for the first time in franchise history and the focused calm they'll need to polish off two more wins against the team that won the Metropolitan Division.
It's a tricky balance, but one they're more than happy to negotiate.
"We've been building something for a little while here," Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. "We're hoping to reap the benefits of that, but our job is to just go out there and play this game and have our fans behind us, and make sure we come out well at home. We've been a team that's been good at home of late, and we know how important it is, the home-ice advantage here and the opportunity we've given ourselves. We're going to make sure we don't waste that and come out flying the way we need to, and use our fans as our energy."
The Blue Jackets, who held an optional morning skate, aren't expected to have any lineup changes from Game 2, which means center Alex Wennberg is still day-to-day and will likely miss his second game in a row with an upper-body injury.
The Capitals will have two lineup changes. Defenseman Christian Djoos will replace Jakub Jerabek on the third pairing and there will be a switch in net.
Braden Holtby will start Game 3 for Washington, after Philipp Grubauer started the first two games. Grubauer, who outplayed Holtby down the stretch in the regular season, allowed four goals in each game.
He was pulled for Holtby prior to the start of the third period in Game 3 on Sunday.
"Obviously our decision to go with [Brugauer] was just the numbers he's put up over the last while," Trotz said. "[Holtby] was a true pro, has been working with the goalie coaches on his game and got some pretty good momentum towards the end of the season, so you look at what he's done in the playoffs, all of those things, he's a pretty good option for us. Coming in here to Columbus, he's had a lot of games here and he feels pretty comfortable."
Holtby didn't feel all that comfortable in his last start at Nationwide Arena, when he allowed four goals on 16 shots Feb. 26 in a 5-1 win for the Blue Jackets, who lost three of their four games against the Capitals this season.
Sergei Bobrovsky, who made a combined 81 saves on 88 shots in the first two games, will start for Columbus.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
CAPITALS
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana - Nicklas Backstrom - T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly - Lars Eller - Devante Smith-Pelly
Chandler Stephenson - Jay Beagle - Alex Chiasson
Defensemen
Michal Kempny - John Carlson
Dmitri Orlov - Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik - Christian Djoos
Goaltenders
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: Madison Bowey, Andre Burakovsky (upper body), Jakub Jerabek, Shane Gersich, Brian Pinho, Travis Boyd, Pheonix Copley
BLUE JACKETS
Forwards
Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson
Boone Jenner - Nick Foligno - Thomas Vanek
Matt Calvert - Brandon Dubinsky - Josh Anderson
Sonny Milano - Mark Letestu - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Defensemen
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Ian Cole - David Savard
Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Others: Markus Hannikainen, Alexander Wennberg (upper body), Alex Broadhurst, Taylor Chorney, Jack Johnson, Scott Harrington, Dean Kukan, Lukas Sedlak (upper body)
