RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Washington Capitals are using resiliency as a confidence booster heading into Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center on Monday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).
Carolina won Game 3 on Saturday, 4-0, to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series, but Washington is 2-0 in games following a loss in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after going 23-7-1 in the regular season, including 2-1-0 after it was shut out.
It's important the Capitals continue that trend because going down 3-1 would obviously stack the odds against them; the team leading a best-of-7 series 3-1 has won the series 90.9 percent of the time (320-32).
"I have always appreciated the fact that our guys are a confident group, and they feel like in any environment against any team on any given night we absolutely can beat anyone in this league," Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. "We've shown that all year long. (Saturday) night, yeah, all the negatives of us struggling against Carolina, their building, the noise, everything that goes into it, they win the game but there's a lot of positives. We have a confident group."
But the Hurricanes are confident, too, especially at home -- they're already 4-0 in the playoffs here after going 31-9-1 in the regular season.
It helps that Frederik Andersen has given up three goals on 55 shots for a 0.99 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage in the series.
"We're doing a lot of things right," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I've loved the three games we've played. There's certainly parts of the game where you'd like to be better, but we're playing a great team. I mean, they're going to put their will on us too at times. I've been very, very happy with the way we've played all three games."
Carbery said the Capitals should be able to take positives from Game 3 because of how they played in the first period and a half, when they controlled the play for the most part and forced the Hurricanes to back off from their pressure-filled style.
But Washington needs to finish when it gets looks, and it will need more from its top line of Dylan Strome, Alex Ovechkin and Aliaksei Protas. Ovechkin doesn't have a point yet in the series, the first time all season he's gone three straight games without one. He has not gone four straight games without a goal this season.
"He's going to get a look here and there, but it's really about keeping him to the outside and if he is going to get shots on the net, make sure Freddie sees them, make sure they're not one-timers," Carolina forward Taylor Hall said.
Protas scored in Game 1, when he was playing on the fourth line. He had an assist on Tom Wilson's empty-net goal in Game 2. Strome had an assist on John Carlson's power-play goal in Game 2, but nothing more.
"We've been a pretty good shot-volume team all year, and through three games obviously we haven't had that," Strome said. "I think sometimes when you're getting five or six chances a game, they come a little easier to bear down and put them in as opposed to when you're getting two or three.
“But I think through three games, we're realizing what it's going to be like in this series to get goals and find ways to score. It's about us just bearing down and finishing our chances, driving the net hard and making it difficult on them. We didn't have nearly enough shots last game with traffic to make it tough on him (Andersen)."
Here's a breakdown of Game 4:
Capitals: The Hurricanes won't change, so it becomes more about how Washington readjusts. A key, Carlson said, is quick puck movement; that's what was working for them in the first period on Saturday. "They're a real attacking team all over the ice, pressure all over the ice, and when that happens they look good," Carlson said. "When we move the puck quick and clean, all of a sudden you've got Tom Wilson in front of the net with no one around him. When we're clean and executing at a high level, there's a lot out there for us." The Capitals have to be clean and able to connect passes, and they have to finish, which has been a problem in the series.
Hurricanes: Carolina has controlled the territorial play through three games, outshooting Washington by an average of 11 shots on goal per game (29.7-18.7), including 28-21 in Game 3 thanks to a 22-12 advantage after the first period. The Hurricanes also went 2-for-2 on the power play in Game 3, improving to 3-for-8 in the series. Their nine power play goals are tied with the Dallas Stars for the most this postseason. "I think we like the amount of looks we've had in the series, and I wouldn't say we've been super lucky with our goal-scoring yet," Hall said. "There's another level of our game that we can get to I feel like, and hopefully that's (Monday)."
Number to know: Zero. The Capitals have no goals on 21 high danger shots on goal in the series, according to NHL EDGE statistics. The Hurricanes have two on 19, scoring each on six high danger shots on goal in Game 3, when Washington was 0-for-9 on its high danger shots.
What to look for: Ovechkin on the power play. Where is he set up? Is he stagnant or moving his feet? Ovechkin has been at the point more on the power play than in his "office" in the left face-off circle. He has one shot on goal in 11:36 of power play ice time. The Capitals need to find him for his one-timer, but he needs to find space so they can deliver him the puck.
