Connor McMichael came off the bench and went in alone on Frederik Andersen only to shoot the puck into his right pad 39 seconds into the game. Aliaksei Protas rang the right post on a partial breakaway at 1:06. Alex Ovechkin missed on consecutive tip-ins at 4:27 and 4:30.
“If you look at last game and this game we have opportunities to get the lead right away, but we just have to find a way to score a goal,” Ovechkin said. “Obviously, [Andersen’s] feeling it right now, but we have to find dirty goals, rebound, redirect.”
They couldn’t and they seemed to sag and get sloppy, leading to Gostisbehere’s goal.
But the Capitals got a four-minute power play after Jordan Martinook‘s high stick made Jakob Chychrun bleed at 16:24 of the first. Here was their chance, right?
Wrong.
Their entries were disconnected. They couldn’t get the puck into the zone. When they did, it was sent right back out. Carolina got a 2-on-1 and forced Logan Thompson to make a save on Eric Robinson at 18:55.
It was more of the same for the first 24 seconds of the second period as the Hurricanes’ elite penalty kill, which is 25-for-27 in the playoffs, an NHL-best 92.6 percent, suffocated the Capitals, making their power play look disjointed as ever.
Of course, as if it was predictable, the Hurricanes got a jolt from the PK, and 1:05 into the period Seth Jarvis cashed in off a rebound to make it 2-0.
“We don’t score on the four-minute and they score at the end of it at the beginning of the second,” Capitals forward Dylan Strome said. “That’s a huge point of the game. We’ve got to figure out our power play.”
Jarvis’ goal, by the way, was the result of a rebound that came off the crossbar. It got there because Thompson whiffed on catching Sebastian Aho‘s shot from above the left face-off circle.
But, as they’ve done all season, the Capitals were resilient. They got better, and eventually Chychrun scored to make it 2-1 at 5:18 of the third period.
It was a one-off, not a momentum starter.
Taylor Hall scored 3:06 later on a breakaway because Washington defensemen John Carlson and Matt Roy didn’t realize he was still behind them as they pushed up the ice.
Hall never backchecked because he saw the Hurricanes thwart the Capitals forecheck and gain possession. A stretch pass from Jack Roslovic to the far blue line sent him in alone. He finished.
“When we get within a goal we’ve got to find a way to keep the momentum on our side, and we just didn’t do that tonight,” Washington forward Tom Wilson said.
It happened again later in the third.
Ovechkin scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 12:14 to make it 3-2, but 4:31 later, Rasmus Sandin‘s stick got stuck in the boards, allowing Hall to take the puck from under his feet and pass to Sean Walker, who showed patience and finish to give the Hurricanes a 4-2 lead.
Andrei Svechnikov iced it with an empty-net goal.
“We’re giving ourselves some opportunity, we’re just not executing, making the play, whatever you want to call it,” Carbery said. “And we’re making some mistakes and they’re capitalizing.”
It’s happening too often to the Capitals. It’s why they’re now facing elimination.
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