WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just over seven years ago, the Washington Capitals were the defending Stanley Cup winners and Metropolitan Division champions for the fourth consecutive season, loaded with a star-studded roster looking to make another championship run.
And then, it was over.
As shocking as it was, more surprising was the team that did it. In the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade, the Carolina Hurricanes held serve at home in their first round series with Washington and got to a Game 7 at Capital One Arena.
Brock McGinn — with an assist from Mr. Game 7, Justin Williams — ended the Capitals’ reign as champions with a double-overtime goal that kicked off a changing of the guard in Metro.
Fast-forward six years, and the Hurricanes have been the power in the division, winning a postseason round every year since and reaching the conference title twice, though a Stanley Cup remains elusive.
Now, finally, a rematch: Washington — again atop the division in the regular season and hosting Games 1 and 2 —won a playoff round for the first time since its championship season after beating Montreal in five games, while the Hurricanes took care of the Devils in five games and are the only team without a regulation loss so far in this postseason.
About this season
Remember the 2018 playoff series when Carolina and Washington each won their three home games before the Hurricanes’ win in Game 7? During this year’s regular season, the teams split their four games, with the home team winning each. Carolina did steal an extra point, losing a shootout in D.C. in the teams’ final meeting on April 10.
The Hurricanes were led by their young core in four games against the Capitals this season, with Seth Jarvis (3 goals, two assists) leading all scorers with five points and rookie Jackson Blake scoring three of his 17 regular season goals against Washington.
Brent Burns’ three points were tied for the most he had against any team this season. He also had three regular season points against the Devils, and that carried over to Round 1, where he had a goal and an assist in five games against New Jersey.
On the Capitals’ side, Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome each had three points against Carolina during the regular season. Ovechkin, with two power play goals, was the only player in the series to score more than once against the Hurricanes this year for Washington, which totaled 10 goals in the four-game series.
Capitals starting goalie Logan Thompson faced Carolina just once, suffering a loss after allowing three goals on nine shots in the first period of a 5-1 Hurricanes win April 2.
Frederik Andersen, who is back after getting knocked out of Game 4 and missing Game 5 against the Devils, made two starts against Washington this season, going 1-0-1 with an .898 save percentage. Three of the five goals he allowed were on the power play.
Familiar faces
Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov’s only multigoal game of the season came Nov. 3 against the Capitals, the team he helped win the Stanley Cup and lost to Carolina in 2019.
He’ll now be on the other side for this year’s rematch, and the pending unrestricted free agent has played well against the Capitals since coming to Carolina.
On the Washington side, defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk was part of that Carolina team that stunned the Capitals in 2019. He came to D.C. in 2020 and has played the last five seasons with the Caps, logging all 82 games this season. He has three assists in 14 games against the Hurricanes since the 2020-21 season.
Former Carolina defenseman Ethan Bear is a reserve for Washington.
Special teams
The Hurricanes ranked first on the penalty kill during the regular season (83.6%) and were perfect (15 of 15) against the Devils in Round 1. Carolina’s power play, 25th-ranked at 18.7% during the regular season, clicked against the Devils, scoring on 31.6% of its chances.
The Capitals’ penalty kill struggled against Montreal, allowing five goals on 15 chances (66.7%) after ranking fifth (82.0%) in the regular season. Washington’s power play was middle of the road in the regular season (23.5%, tied for 13th) and pretty much the same against the Canadiens (3 of 13, 23.1%).
X-factor
Tom Wilson turned the series against Montreal on its ear with his crushing hit on Habs defenseman Alexandre Carrier, and he will surely try to intimidate the Hurricanes throughout a seven-game series.
Carolina did a good job of standing up for itself in late-season matchups against Washington, and Andrei Svechnikov was a nuisance to Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom throughout that first round series.
The second round matchup could come down to which of Wilson and Svechnikov have the bigger series.
Prediction
As much as another seven-game series would be a treat for hockey fans, I think the Hurricanes are deeper all over the ice. A lot of Washington’s success this year came thanks to career years for several players, much of it on inflated shooting percentages.
Also, Thompson’s electric start in net came crashing down starting in February, though he was better against the Canadiens.
If Carolina can stay hot on the penalty kill and win the special teams battle, Washington will have a tough time matching the Hurricanes at 5-on-5.
It’s back to the Eastern Conference final for coach Rod Brind’Amour’s team with a 4-2 series win.
