The Carolina Hurricanes are a familiar foe for the Washington Capitals. The Metro Division rivals played four times this season. Nonetheless, Spencer Carbery’s team looked unprepared in Game One of the Eastern Conference Semifinals series. Rod Brind’Amour’s club prevailed in overtime, 2-1.
However, the score was deceptive. By the eye test, the Capitals generated hardly any offensive pressure during the final 40 minutes of play. Unfortunately, the metrics matched the eye test. The puck possession disparity was downright frightening .
Washington mustered just 14 shots in 63:06. That matched an unwanted franchise record: fewest shots in a home playoff game.
Thirty five years ago, in Game Four of the Wales Conference Final, the Boston Bruins finished off a sweep against the Capitals. On that night, a depleted Caps squad produced a mere 14 shots. Unlike the game in 1990, Tuesday’s shot disparity wasn’t the byproduct of an injury-riddled Washington roster.
This time, the Capitals failed to execute breakouts. The Canes intercepted far too many clearing attempts. Washington failed to claim retrievals. Instead, Carolina dictated the pace most of the night. The Canes are a dump-and-chase team but not in the old-fashioned way. The Canes out-skate (not outgrind) opponents to the puck.
Washington never adjusted. The Canes simply kept doing what they do best. Indeed, the Capitals were passive and reactive. The game was scoreless at the first intermission. The Capitals led first, too, in the middle stanza.
Unfortunately, the lead was an illusion. The deeper the game went, the more Carolina took control. Over the final 23 minutes of regulation and sudden death, Washington produced three shots on goal. In fact, looking and the latter 39 minutes of the game, Washington had a total of five shots.
After Aliaksei Protas put the Capitals up 1-0 just under four minutes into the second period, they seemed determined to milk that slim lead as long as they could.
The Caps themselves are at their best when they dictate the pace of play. In Game One, Carolina beat the Capitals to the punch time and again. The Hurricanes imposed their will on both both sides of the puck. Washington offered little resistance. Hurricanes attackers fired at will on Logan Thompson.
Luckily, Thompson was on top of his game. The Washington goalie was the main reason the game required sudden death overtime. He finished with 31 saves in the loss.
Strategically, the Capitals seem hyper-focused on taking away the middle of the ice. Washington did a decent job at containing the Hurricanes to the perimeter. There’s no problem with this except when there’s no attack of your own. Staying connected as five-man units cannot ONLY be about defending. Eventually, the other side breaks through.
Washington has shown in the past against Carolina that they can be effective at trading chances and momentum shifts and can be effective even in more high-scoring games, and there was little of that push back on Tuesday. Instead of making their own push, the Capitals seemed content to try and keep the Hurricanes to the outside, but at the cost of generating much at all on their own.
Now after a dud of a performance outside their goaltender, Washington has its first series deficit of this year’s playoffs, and will be required to win at least one game at Lenovo Center in Raleigh to advance to their first Eastern Conference Final since 2018 – a place they haven’t had a non-shootout aided win since 2022.
Thompson outplayed Carolina counterpart Frederik Andersen. The Hurricanes’ netminder was off-angle on the Protas goal. This miscue buoyed the Caps to a near-win despite a near total lack of offense. However, one goal is rarely sufficient to win. It was not in Game One. Washington never trailed in regulation but the opponent played to their desired pace.
Tuesday’s game was Washington’s weakest performance of the playoffs to date. It was worse than the beat down in Montreal during Game 3 of the first round. Even in Jaccob Slavin had not tallied the overtime winner for Carolina, the Caps could not be happy with their Game One performance.
The flip side: Thompson was excellent. The Caps entered OT one shot (or one lucky bounce) from stealing a win they didn’t deserve. Regardless of the outcome of the opener, Washington must play better to win the series.
Looking Ahead: Game 2 and Beyond
Washington has a bit of a tightrope to walk in this series. While they are by far a more effective team playing a puck possession game, the Canes aren’t afraid to trade off chances.
Button it down too much and the Canes will eventually scratch out enough to beat you. Open up the play too much and the Canes can win a skill versus skill track meet.
As the Capitals showed in their first-round series against Montreal, while they aren’t a bad club playing a defensive style, against a speedy opponent that thrives on pressure in the offensive zone it isn’t exactly a great tactic to take.
Moving forward, the Capitals need to take some more risks defensively; smart risks but risks nonetheless. Regroup, put more rubber on Andersen’s net and see what happens.
