RALEIGH — Many saw this season as a retooling year for the Carolina Hurricanes. After winning Monday’s Game 4 over the Capitals 5-2, they are within one victory of reaching the Eastern Conference final.
Taylor Hall and Sean Walker both cleanly beat Washington goalie Logan Thompson — earning assists on each other’s goals — in the third period as Carolina responded each time the visiting Capitals scored to build a 3-1 series lead with a win at Lenovo Center.
“Certainly there’s no panic when things don’t go our way,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Whatever it is — tonight, they’re closing the gap. We just keep playing.”
After the Capitals scored for the first time in more than five periods on Jakob Chychrun’s goal at 5:18 of the third period to cut Carolina’s lead to 2-1, the Hurricanes responded just over three minutes later thanks to a good read by Hall.
Hall hung back near the Capitals’ blue line as the Hurricanes prepared to exit the defensive zone — a good read, Brind’Amour said — and Jack Roslovic’s pass up ice sent him in on a breakaway. The former Hart Trophy winner and deadline acquisition shot and beat Thompson to reestablish a two-goal lead.
“He plays somewhat deep in his net,” Hall said of Thompson, “so shooting is a pretty good option. If you deke, he’s going to have a better chance at it. So I just picked my corner, and it was a good shot.”
Washington got within one again with under eight minutes left when Alex Ovechkin — to that point blanked in the series — scored on a 5-on-3 power play.
But Carolina again had a response, with Walker winning a puck battle against two Capitals in the defensive zone and then beating them up ice to create a 3-on-1 rush. Walker carried the puck up the left wing, hesitated, cut to the inside of the left circle, and beat Thompson’s glove to extinguish Washington’s comeback by making it 4-2 at 16:45 of the third.
“I tried to be patient,” Walker said. “Once I stepped inside, I felt like I had a good lane, so I shot it. Just happy it went in.”
Patient is a good way to describe Carolina’s play through four games in the series.
“It’s playoffs, and momentum swings are everything,” Hall said. “So it’s about managing those and trying to just step on the pedal no matter what the score is.”
After a strong start for the Capitals during which Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen (19 saves) made seven stops in the first six-plus minutes, a dominant shift by the top line of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov helped the home team seize control.
Carolina’s fourth line kept the pressure on in the Capitals zone, and Shayne Gostisbehere held the puck near the blue line and created a space with a nifty series of moves. He then wristed a shot from the left point through a screen by Jesperi Kotkaniemi, beating Thompson short side just past the midway point of the opening period. Gostisbehere’s goal, his third of the playoffs, was the first scored in the opening 20 minutes of any game by either team in the series.
“It’s just a different game when you can play from in front, that’s for sure,” Brind’Amour said.
Carolina then ended the first period killing off the majority of a four-minute high-sticking penalty by Jordan Martinook, finishing it off to start the second. That led to them doubling the lead shortly thereafter when an Aho shot went off Thompson’s glove. The puck fluttered in the air and grazed the crossbar, and Jarvis found the rebound and put it in for his third goal of the postseason.
“You never want to do that,” Jarvis said of killing the penalty. “But when the time comes, everyone answered the bell really well.”
The Hurricanes are now 25 of 27 on the kill in the postseason, a league-best 92.6% after being tops in the NHL during the regular season.
Svechinkov added his team-best seventh goal of the playoffs into an empty net at 17:39 of the third to send Carolina back to Washington with a chance to close out the Capitals on Thursday.
“We’re happy right now where we are in the series,” Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov said. “But the series is not over. It’s always hard to finish it.”
Jarvis added, “We’re expecting their best next game, but it’s a good step in the right direction.”
Notes: Hurricanes forward Eric Robinson finished with a career-high nine hits. … Thompson has allowed 15 goals with an .871 save percentage in four road playoff games this postseason compared to seven goals and a .954 in five home games. … Washington’s Nic Dowd was 17 of 21 on faceoffs, while Kotkaniemi won just 3 of 16.
