Caps Host Cats in Pivotal Game 4
Caps seek to maintain home ice advantage while Florida looks to get even on Monday night in the District
Saturday's 6-1 victory over the Panthers in Game 3 of their opening round playoff series not only vaulted the Caps into a 2-1 series lead, it helped them atone for a lackluster performance in the third period of Thursday's Game 2 in Florida, a 5-1 loss. In the wake of Saturday's strong performance in front of a packed house at Capital One Arena - the first capacity crowd to witness playoff hockey here in over three years - the Caps will now look to string together successive playoff wins for the first time in over three years in Monday night's Game 4 in the District.
Three games into the series, the Caps have been able to deliver strong first-period performances in each contest. But until they took a 3-1 lead to the second intermission of Game 3, they hadn't had a lead at any intermission in the series to that point. Washington scored critical and timely goals late in the first and second periods that altered the complexion of the contest in their favor at those respective junctures.
Down 1-0 in the final minute of the first period, the Caps got even on a timely power-play goal from T.J. Oshie with 26 seconds remaining. It turned out to be the first of six unanswered Washington goals, but the Caps' lead was still just 2-1 in the penultimate minute of the middle stanza. That's when Trevor van Riemsdyk ripped a shot past Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 3-1 for Washington, just 71 seconds ahead of intermission.
"The one at the end of the first was really important," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "We had played a hard-fought period, and we were down 1-0. And to get that one to keep it even going in [to intermission], there's definitely a bit of a different feel going into the room 1-1 or going into the room down 1-0.
Peter Laviolette | May 8
"We liked the first period that we played. We thought we played hard, we thought we played well, but we found ourselves down 1-0. So to me that goal was a big goal, just to level it clean and to go out and attack the second period with an even slate."
Ironically, the Caps' only truly bad period of the series - the third period of Game 2 - helped them win Game 3. Down 5-1 after 40 minutes of play that night in Florida, Laviolette opted to make a goaltending switch. Vitek Vanecek started the first two games of the set for the Caps, but Laviolette gave Ilya Samsonov his first action of the series in the final frame of that game. With the Caps playing poorly in front of him, Washington was outshot 17-3. But Samsonov stopped all 17 of those shots, earning the Game 3 start.
After giving up the lone Florida goal of Game 3 to Jonathan Huberdeau on the Panthers' second shot of the contest, Samsonov stopped the next 28 shots he faced to record his first career Stanley Cup Playoff victory. He is now virtually certain to start Game 4 as the Caps continue to use both goaltenders with the hope that one might step forward and take the reins.
"I've said that before and sometimes it sounds like a knock and it's not," says Laviolette. "We're a successful team at 100 points, and our goaltenders are a big part of it. It's just the way that it's gone for us with two young goaltenders in their second year. They both have had really good moments and played really well for stretches. But this is how we've operated for the past two years and they've done a good job."
Less than an hour after the Caps proved their third period performance in Game 2 was an anomaly, Laviolette was asked whether his team could now put its convincing Game 3 victory behind it.
"So this game, if we don't follow it up, than that's on us," says Laviolette. "It's got to be pointed from right now. We've got to make sure that our mindset is knowing where [the Panthers] are at.
"Our preparation, our work, our detail, that has to be the priority. Like I said, the third period [of Game 2] wasn't who we were. But I think it's really important that we understand exactly where they are at, and we're ready to play."
Washington is the eighth team in NHL history to carry a 2-1 lead in a series against the League's reigning Presidents' Trophy squad.
"We have a lot of a lot of experience," says Caps winger Garnet Hathaway. "We have a lot of leaders on this team that have been through it, and they know how to communicate what it's going to be like to get there. There's going to be a lot of ups and downs throughout these playoffs. You might be down goals; you might be down multiple goals. But right now, we've got the leaders dragging everybody in and believing in what we can do and knowing that if we are down one or down two or whatever, we may be down but it's not over. We've got a lot of faith in our system right now."
Washington's adherence to and belief in its system has kept the high-octane Florida attack bottled up for large stretches of the series to date. The Panthers have scored eight goals in the three games, with five of them coming in a span of just over 20 minutes of playing time in Game 2. The League's highest-scoring team since 1995-96, the Panthers were held to two or fewer goals in just 15 of their 82 regular season games, and the Caps have been able to play a patient team game, which has led to some frustration for Florida.
"To me, frustration has taken over for some reason," said Panthers interim coach Andrew Brunette following Game 3. "And when you get frustrated, it usually means you're not working hard enough. Our compete has not been what it has been all year. Again, that could be nerves, but we have to find a way. And you get frustrated when you're not working hard, and that's kind of the case right now, and you do undisciplined things because you're frustrated."
While the Caps conducted an optional practice on Sunday, the Panthers' midday practice focused on upping the team's battle level.
"Today was a good practice," says Cats defenseman Aaron Ekblad. "Obviously we wanted to emphasize our battle level, our intensity, and at loosening up. We had fun today, we got some work done today, and we're going to be coming to the rink ready to play [Monday]."
"The first game was obviously very frustrating; I don't think we created enough," says Florida forward Sam Reinhart. "They did an exceptional job of keeping us to the perimeter.
"I think [Game 3] was a little bit different, it's just the mistakes that we did have, they made us pay. We were able to get to the net a little bit more, but obviously their goalie was a little bit hot and he made a big difference for them. I think it's more on the defensive side of the puck for us, and that offense is going to come with the chances being there. That's not where the frustration is; I think there's other aspects where we can look to tighten up."
Despite lopsided final scores in each of the last two games, the bulk of this series has been played with only a goal or two separating these two teams. It's likely to remain that way moving forward.
"[If] we win a game, we're evened up and we're on home ice again," says Reinhart. "That's not a challenge at all. It's a seven-game series; we're three games in, and we know our best hockey is yet to be played and it's right there for us. We knew it was going to be a battle, and we're in the thick of it right now for sure."
