SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes from Caps' Morning Skate 5/21

Fighting My Way Back - After taking a tough gut punch of a double-overtime loss to the Bruins in Game 3, the Caps' attentions are singularly focused on squaring the series in Friday's Game 4 in Boston.

All three games of this series have required overtime, and Wednesday's Game 3 went into double overtime before Boston's Craig Smith settled it at 5:48 of the extra session, exploiting a miscommunication in an exchange behind the Washington net to manufacture the game-winner.
Washington is the only team to lead at any intermission of this series; it owned a 2-1 advantage heading into the third period of Game 3. The Caps are the only team to own a third-period lead in the series; they were also up a goal in the third period of Game 2. But it's the Bruins who own a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4, despite leading on the scoreboard for only 8 minutes and 47 seconds of the 211 minutes and 8 seconds of hockey played in the series to date.
Three games in, it's been a pair of East Division heavyweights trading blows in a prize fight.
"I think that's probably the way that you would feel in a series like this, like you're in a heavyweight fight and you're going to get punched and you've got to continue to punch," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "Some rounds go your way and some rounds don't go your way. That's the series that we were expecting and that they were probably expecting; two big, heavy teams that can play good defense, and you've got to be sharp defensively because they're good offensively as well.
'You've got to continue to roll with those punches. And even in the games, there have been times where it's gone back and forth, but there's been times where we've owned a period and then there's been times where they've owned a period and you're just trying to break that cycle. It has been tight. The differences between winning and losing are small. And so you've got to you got to stay sharp - both mentally sharp and physically sharp - throughout the entire contest."
The differences are small, indeed. One goal anywhere along the line in either of the two previous games, and it would be the Caps going into Game 4 with a 2-1 series lead. Time and space have been hard to come by at both ends of the ice.
"It's obviously tough," says Caps winger Conor Sheary. "We knew they were a good defensive team coming into the series. I think it's just two really good teams going head-to-head, and obviously with three overtime games in the first three games, you can see how tight things are out there.
"I think we can do a little bit more to break down their defense and maybe make them work a little harder in their own zone. But other than that, we'll just try to stick to our game plan as much as possible, break them down and make sure we are getting to [Bruins goalie Tuukka] Rask tonight."
Power Struggle - While the Caps have scored a pair of power-play goals in this series in 10 opportunities, they have five extra-man chances in the first 36 minutes of Game 3 and might have been able to forge a multi-goal lead - a non-existent entity for both sides in the series to date - with a bit more assertiveness or killer instinct with the extra man.
"I think when you see a penalty kill or you see a power play enough times, you learn their instincts. You might change your breakout or change their forecheck or stuff like that. I think we just have to do a good job of breaking that down and making sure that when we get possession, we're making the right reads. And when we have breakdowns in their coverage, we've just got to execute and make plays. I think we had opportunities in the first couple of power plays to do that, and we didn't take advantage. Hopefully if we get the chance tonight, we'll do that."
Consistently clean zone entries have been an issue as well, and Washington has also lacked movement at times when it does gain the zone and get set up.
"We have to use all the options we have in our book," says Caps center Nicklas Backstrom. "When we have those scenarios, I think you've got to shoot a little bit more. You've got to use the chances you get, maybe create some traffic in front of the net and make sure you crash the net. It's a little bit of everything, but hopefully that's an area that's going to click [in Game 4]."
"To me, it looks like we're not playing the same style of hockey," says Caps center Evgeny Kuznetsov. "But in terms of the hockey, the game is always pretty even. That means our style against their style matches pretty good. Usually if you see those type of games so many games in a row, it is similar teams playing similar hockey. But I think we are built the opposite way with the way we are set up and the way they are set up. That's pretty cool to see that, two teams playing like that in the playoffs.
"I think this will be a great series, and I think whoever will wait and be more patient and more disciplined, that team will get the momentum. Last game, we didn't have a great power play and they also didn't have a great power play. I think that today there will be a lot more effort and a lot more discipline on the power play and a lot more execution."
In The Nets -After a strong Stanley Cup Playoff debut in a losing effort on Wednesday night, Ilya Samsonov gets the net again for Game 4 against the Bruins. Samsonov made 40 saves on 43 shots in a 3-2 double-overtime loss in Game 3, becoming the first goaltender in franchise history to play in a double-overtime game in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut.
Samsonov became the third Caps goalie to start a game in the first three games of the series, following Vitek Vanecek in Game 1 and Craig Anderson in Game 2. Vanecek left Game 1 with an injury and Anderson came on in relief to earn the win. In the first three games of the series, the three Caps goaltenders have combined for a 2.56 GAA and a .923 save pct.
Laviolette is trying to become the first coach since (checks notes) himself to use three different starting goaltenders in a playoff series and win it. Back in 2011, his Philadelphia Flyers started Sergei Bobrovsky, Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton while prevailing over Buffalo in a seven-game first-round series. This situation bears no resemblance to the prior one.
"These [changes] are not by calculated choice," says Laviolette, "they're almost by necessity, the moves that we're making. There has been confidence in our goaltender; we're used all our goalies throughout the entire year. And while you'd like to have some stability, that's not the hand that we've been dealt. We have had to make changes, not necessarily based on a decision by me, based more on where we are at inside the room with regard to the players and where they're at with their health."
For the Bruins, Tuukka Rask gets the net for the fourth straight game on Friday. With 53 career Stanley Cup Playoff victories, he is tied with Hockey Hall of Famer Gerry Cheevers for the all-time Boston franchise lead. In the series, Rask has a 2.27 GAA and a .926 save pct.
All Lined Up - Here is how we believe the Caps and the Bruins might look on Friday night in Boston when they meet for Game 4 of their first-round playoff series:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
39-Mantha, 19-Backstrom, 43-Wilson
73-Sheary, 20-Eller, 17-Raffl
62-Hagelin, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway
Defensemen
9-Orlov, 74-Carlson
4-Dillon, 2-Schultz
33-Chara, 3-Jensen
Goaltenders
30-Samsonov
31-Anderson
Out
6-Kempny (lower body)
41-Vanecek (lower body)
Extras
1-Copley (G)
10-Sprong (F)
16-Maillet (F)
23-Sgarbossa (F)
24-McMichael (F)
28-Carr (F)
36-Ladue (D)
40-Pilon (F)
42-Fehervary (D)
57-van Riemsdyk (D)
80-Fucale (G)
BOSTON
Forwards
63-Marchand, 37-Bergeron, 88-Pastrnak
71-Hall, 46-Krejci, 12-Smith
21-Ritchie, 13-Coyle, 74-Debrusk
52-Kuraly, 20-Lazar, 14-Wagner
Defensemen
48-Grzelcyk, 73-McAvoy
6-Reilly, 25-Carlo
75-Clifton, 86-Miller
Goaltenders
40-Rask
1-Swayman
Out
28-Kase (upper body)
55-Lauzon (hand)
67-Zboril (upper body)
Extras
11-Frederic (F)
18-McKegg (F)
23-Studnicka (F)
41-Halak (G)
58-Vaakanainen (D)
62-Steen (F)
80-Vladar (G)
81-Blidh (F)
83-Kuhlman (F)
84-Tinordi (D)