The Washington Capitals understand the significance of Monday’s Game 4 in their Stanley Cup second-round series with the Carolina Hurricanes.
With his squad down 2-1 in the best-of-seven series before they take the ice Monday in Raleigh, N.C, Capitals coach Spencer Carbery believes his veteran squad will come out and play the way they have throughout the season.
“Is it a back-against-the-wall difficult game, Game 4 in their building after losing Game 3? For sure,” Carbery told reporters Sunday. “But it’s an opportunity to even the series…. You reset, you refocus and you expect to have your best performance of the season. Your best shift of the season (on) your next one, and our guys are really good at that.
“They’ve been good at that through the regular season, and we need to have the same mindset going into Game 4.”
That mindset allowed Washington to earn 111 points and the Eastern Conference’s best record in the regular season. Now the Capitals need it to win three of the next four to advance to the conference finals. That must include at least one victory in Carolina, where they last won on Dec. 17, 2023.
Including Saturday’s 4-0 Game 3 win, the Hurricanes have beaten the Capitals in their last four meetings at PNC Arena by a combined score of 17-5.
Something that would help the Capitals is getting goals from Alex Ovechkin. The captain has zero points in this series after netting four goals and one assist in five games against Montreal in the first round.
Ovechkin was one of the NHL’s hottest players in the last half of the regular season, earning points in his last nine games as he broke Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring mark. The last time he went three games without a point was Jan. 6-10.
Carbery credited the Hurricanes defense for limiting Ovechkin and center Dylan Strome from being able to create offense off entry plays. Carolina’s ability to control gaps means the Capitals will need to beat someone in order to get scoring chances.
It’s not that the 39-year-old winger has not had chances. On Saturday, Ovechkin had three quality attempts in the first period that Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen denied.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said the team was “fortunate” that Andersen stopped Ovechkin. He knows that will not always be the case.
“Can’t stop him,” Brind’Amour told reporters Sunday. “You just got to kind of know he’s there, and he’s going to get his. You just hope there’s not too many of them.”
It also helps to have a netminder playing at the top of his game. Andersen, who missed nearly half of the regular season due to a knee injury that limited him to 22 starts, leads qualified goalies in the playoffs with his .940 save percentage and 1.32 goals-against average.
It’s not just Ovechkin who is not filling the stat sheet. Aside from the second half of Saturday’s game, when Carolina scored all four of its goals, offense has been at a premium in the series. The 11 goals in the series have been scored by 11 players — and no one has more than two points.
–Field Level Media
