COLUMBUS -- The Washington Capitals left home Monday with the goal of winning two games on the road in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
They completed their mission with a thorough 4-1 victory in Game 4 at Nationwide Arena on Thursday to even the best-of-7 series at two wins apiece.
Mission accomplished on road, Capitals need to figure out home in Game 5
Visiting team has won first four games in series against Blue Jackets
RELATED: [Complete Capitals vs. Blue Jackets series coverage]
Now they have to figure out a way to win Game 5 in Washington on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, NBCSN, SN, TVAS). Neither team has won at home in this series, and winning at Capital One Arena has been particularly difficult for the Capitals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs of late.
Including overtime losses in the first two games against the Blue Jackets, the Capitals are 3-6 at home during the past two postseasons. Knowing that, they were careful not to get carried away after winning Thursday.
"All we've done is just got on even terms," coach Barry Trotz said. "We dug ourselves a hole and we've got to continue to push forward. Obviously, the next game is a real pivotal game. Someone's going to take the lead in this series, and then your back's against the wall. So we've got to make sure we're ready to go. But I think we have been since we got here, and we've just got to do it at home."
The Capitals have looked far more comfortable and played with more confidence on the road. Including their wins in Games 3 and 4, they are 6-2 on the road in the playoffs during the past two seasons.
"I always said I personally like to play more on the road," said center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who scored an empty-net goal with 2:19 remaining and had three assists. "But those overtime games [in the first two games at home], it just happens in hockey. I don't think it matters in this series when you play at home or on the road, but it will matter in a Game 7 if we have to play one."
Still, the last time the Capitals played a Game 7 at home, they lost 2-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Second Round last season. That came after they battled back from down 3-1 in the series to get even.
That loss should serve as a painful reminder that the Capitals shouldn't be satisfied now. Captain Alex Ovechkin, who had a goal and an assist in Game 4, confidently stated after a 5-4 overtime loss in Game 2 that they would win both games in Columbus and come back to Washington with the series tied.
They've done that, but didn't have much of an alternative if they wanted to win the series.
"There was no other option," goaltender Braden Holtby said. "Our goal is to win a Stanley Cup, and that's what we viewed as our best chance after losing the first two. We've been a confident group all year. I think that's been our strongest asset. So I don't think we've ever doubted ourselves that way. I think we came into this building with the right mindset to have success against this team here, but we know it's only going to get harder from here on out and we've got to raise our game even more."
One of the things that helped turn the series around was Trotz's decision to go back to Holtby in net after Philipp Grubauer started the first two games. After Holtby made 33 saves in a 3-2 double-overtime win in Game 3 on Tuesday, he made 23 saves in Game 4.
The Capitals also shut down the Blue Jackets' power play, which torched them for four goals in the first two games but was 0-for-7 in the two games in Columbus.
Game 4 was Washington's most complete performance of the series -- and the first game that didn't require overtime.
As they did in the first three games, the Capitals scored first, getting a goal from forward Tom Wilson 6:16 into the game.
But unlike the first three games, they didn't let the lead slip away.
Instead, they built on it and frustrated the Blue Jackets by bottling them up in the neutral zone and eliminating their rush chances. After being a dominating presence almost every time he was on the ice in the first three games, Columbus forward Artemi Panarin was quiet Thursday and limited to one shot on goal.
T.J. Oshie scored a power-play goal 9:19 into the second period to increase the lead to 2-0, and Ovechkin scored from the right circle 2:49 into the third period to make it 3-0.
Although Boone Jenner pulled the Blue Jackets within 3-1 with a deflection goal at 6:22, the Capitals didn't allow them to get any closer.
"It's safe to say that was our most complete game from top to bottom," Oshie said. "That's something that we want to build on, and you can see at the end, when they scored that goal, it was like nothing even happened, and we just kept going. That's the kind of feeling you get when you're playing consistent, deep hockey. And that's how we were playing."
