Capitals’ resiliency shines in 3rd period of Game 4 comeback win

MONTREAL -- Spencer Carbery took time in the intermission between the second and third periods on Sunday night to remind the Washington Capitals about who they are, what their identity is, and what made them so successful this season.

"Yeah, we had a really good conversation," said Carbery, the Capitals coach.

So, down a goal with 20 minutes to play in Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens, the Capitals players, who Carbery said were "deflated" after the second period, heard about how good they've been at playing through challenges this season. They heard about how resilient they've been when down in games, especially going into the third period. They heard about their character, their heart, and their ability to put the past behind them.

And then they put all of that on the ice to win a hockey game in comeback fashion, just as they did a League-high 25 times in the regular season.

Washington rallied with four goals in the third period for a 5-2 win at Bell Centre to take a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference First Round. Game 5 will be at Capital One Arena on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, ESPN, SNP, SNO, SNE, TVAS, CBC).

"I know our group and I know the character in our room, and we've been in some difficult circumstances through this year, and the heart of our group has consistently shown through in these moments," Carbery said. "Sometimes they need to be reminded of who they are and how we can play through that and we're going to find a way to win a game."

The Capitals' resiliency showed up in multiple ways for what is already their second comeback win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They rallied from down a goal in Game 2 for a 3-1 win.

There was Logan Thompson coming back into the net two nights after he couldn't stand on his own as he left the ice in the third period of Game 3 after getting barreled into by teammate Dylan Strome.

Thompson made 16 saves on 18 shots.

"I kind of got my bell rung a bit there," Thompson said. "Scary. It definitely could have been a lot worse. I had to do some protocol, kind of lost my balance getting up, but luckily things were OK and I'm able to play. But thankful that it wasn't worse. It definitely looked a lot worse than it was."

Washington forward Tom Wilson did some soul-searching after Game 3, when he felt his emotions got the best of him, especially during a skirmish with Canadiens forward Josh Anderson that bled through the Capitals' bench door and led to a near melee on the bench.

Wilson was seen mimicking a crying face at Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky from the bench, part of a scene that turned him into a crying meme on social media.

But before Game 4, Wilson had this to say about that incident:

"I guess I should probably just shut up sometimes."

He let his physical play do the talking in Game 4, the loudest, in fact, when he laid a monster hit on Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier at 6:24 of the third period.

Fifteen seconds later, the Capitals tied the game 2-2 on the first of Brandon Duhaime's two goals in the third period, quieting the previously raucous crowd of 21,105.

"It completely changed the momentum in the game," Carbery said of Wilson's hit.

Before Duhaime's goal, there was the Capitals most important penalty kill of the series to date, but that wasn't a given considering how the Canadiens had ripped apart Washington's penalty kill for two goals in the second period to take a 2-1 lead into the third.

But with John Carlson in the penalty box 37 seconds into the third period, the Capitals limited Montreal to one shot on the power play, keeping the game within reach.

"So, now it's like, 'OK, here we go again,' but it wasn't," Carbery said. "It was we're going to kill this and we're going to get to work. We're going to kill this. It wasn't being worried about what had gone on. I could feel it on the bench, the belief and the talk and them supporting one another. … We needed our penalty kill to step up. We needed something to give us a little bit of momentum. I thought that was one of the things that got us going in the third period."

Duhaime was part of it. He had a rough Game 3. There were his back-to-back penalties in the second period, the first leading to a Montreal power-play goal, and then the Canadiens' game-winning goal off Christian Dvorak's stick went into the Capitals net off him.

But Duhaime responded with two goals in the third, a strong individual play that made it 2-2 and an empty-net goal at 17:21 to make it 4-2. He also played a role in the PK to start the period.

"Huge night for him, huge night," Carbery said. "Felt like he was a little bit off early on, a little bit tentative, wasn't moving his feet, wasn't skating like he normally does. I talked to him on the bench like, 'Let's go, let's go.' And then the third period that he has to pick the fellas up and make two huge plays, and the penalty kill, he played a huge part."

Resiliency. It was the theme of the Capitals' season, and now it's the reason they're on the verge of advancing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It just took some reminding for them to get to this point.

"We believe in ourselves," Wilson said.