Down in North Carolina, there are ample NASCAR tracks across the state. Fast cars compete to win races. Sometimes, a car’s fuel tank hits empty before he can reach the pit crew. The competitor completely stalls out of contention. It’s impossible to drive when you run out of gas.
After two games in Raleigh, the Washington Capitals seem to be stuck on the track. In Game Four of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Caps got off to a decent start. Unfortunately, the fuel tank was empty before too long.
The same pattern emerged in Games One and Three. On Sunday, the Caps again came unglued and lost by a 5-2 count. The Hurricanes opened the scoring. The Capitals failed to answer. Now, Spencer Carbery’s team faces a three games to one deficit. The Caps face elimination Thursday night at Capital One Arena.
Bounce back has lacked
For a team that has showed a lot of resilience this season and the ability to come back in the third periods of games, neither trait has been displayed in the series. Carolina took their first two leads in the series in the two games at home and had little trouble turning them into to wins.
Unlike Game 3, Washington did generate some offense when Carolina sat back a bit in the third. But each time the Capitals drew within one, an unforced error caused the game to get back out of reach and ended up the wrong end of a 5-2 Game 4 loss.
“When we get within a goal, we have to find a way to keep momentum on our side, and we didn’t do that tonight,” Tom Wilson said. “We got to pull those our way because they’re getting too many of those big moments in their favor and helping them win games.”
With an extra day off and the series heading back to Washington, the Capitals will have some time to see if they can rally in this series, but after a pair of ugly games in Raleigh, it clearly won’t be easy.
Without putting adequate pressure on Frederik Andersen lately in this series, Washington isn’t able to get the offense they need to keep up with Carolina’s production, And with little offensive production, although Logan Thompson hasn’t been his sharpest, it really doesn’t matter how your goaltender performs when you can’t produce goals.
Washington now has six goals in four games, hardly enough to manage to match Carolina’s output, and that will need to change for Washington to get back into this series.
No margin for error
With the loss, Washington is now 0-5 all time at PNC Arena/Lenovo Center in the postseason, being outscored 20-5 in those games in 2019 and this week. Washington also hasn’t won a regulation game in this building since 2022. If the Capitals want to move on to the Eastern Conference Final, that is going to have to change – if they can force Game 6.
Telltale signs of being at the end of a long run were evident in Washington’s game Monday. Not finishing checks. Surrendering the puck. Not being able to break in the zone. The Capitals looked for a bulk of the game as the team has run out of gas, and against a team like Carolina, the end result wasn’t pretty. Even when the Hurricanes sat back in the second period, Washington generated some chances but not really difficult stops for Andersen.
The Capitals finally scored their first road goal of the series when Jakob Chychrun slapped his stick and converted 5:18 into the third period to bring Washington within a goal of a game they never seemed to be part of. But that one-goal deficit was short-lived, as Taylor Hall caught John Carlson and Matt Roy not paying attention and converted a clear breakaway goal just over three minutes later.
“Both our [defense] basically lost track of that there was a guy behind, so it was a failed forecheck,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery explained.
Washington then pulled within one when they were given a 5-on-3 with 8:03 left in regulation, and Alex Ovechkin got his first goal of the series on the first part, with the Capitals having 1:43 left on the second penalty. But the Caps couldn’t convert, and following an ill-advised Pierre-Luc Dubois holding penalty, the Hurricanes got a goal just after it expired, again putting the game out of reach – this time for good.
“I think think we played with a lot of desperation after [falling behind 2-0] … it’s too little too late,” Connor McMichael said. “I think if we played like that the whole game, I think good things happen. We have to find a way to sustain that pressure.”
“I guess so,” Chychrun said when asked if the push was too little too late.
It’s hard to count this particular Capitals team out, from a team that wasn’t picked by many to even make the playoffs at the start of the season, from a broken leg that likely should have ended Alex Ovechkin’s chance to catch Wayne Gretzky this season, and ending an unlikely top seed in the Eastern Conference and a memorable record-setting moment on Long Island.
“It’s getting one game on home ice,” Tom Wilson said afterwards. “And then coming back here and go from there. … The next game’s huge. It’s gotta be our focus, clean some stuff up and turn the tides a little and get a win on home ice and go from there.”
Washington has a couple of rallies from 3-1 series deficits in their history. They managed the feat in 1988 against Philadelphia and in 2009 against the Rangers. Unfortunately, this is a different animal.
Any rally has to start with a win on home ice Thursday. Getting the series to Game Six will require more effort than the two games combined in Raleigh. Should they force Game 6, then they have to worry about solving the Hurricanes in Raleigh, but without a home win, it’s all theory.
“It’s going have to be all four lines, one after another, pushing, pushing, pushing,” Wilson said. “We’re going to have to slowly push them out of the series.
“Obviously, our backs are against the wall and next game is the biggest game. Start with the first period, and go from there. It’s not going to be easy, they’re a hard-working team but we’re going have some fight here and do our best and leave it out there and see what happens.”
“Win the next game,” McMichael said. “We’re going home, I really like our odds, and just win the next one, and come back here and force a Game 7, that’s where we’re at.”
As the playoffs field shrinks, so does your margin for error, and Washington has had trouble converting and keeping pressure on Carolina this series. While it’s certainly possible the Caps have a bit of fuel in reserve to try and propel them back in this series, the bulk of their two games in Raleigh has fans wondering if Thursday will be the curtain call for their 50th anniversary campaign.
