Photo: @Capitals

Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin did the team’s first “hot-lap” of the postseason. Last season, former Capitals center Jay Beagle started that tradition, which occurs at the beginning of the morning skate on the road to keep the team loose going into their game. Once the Capitals finally lost a game, the torch got passed on to Ovechkin, center Lars Eller, and former head coach Barry Trotz. The Capitals were 3-1 when Ovechkin did the honors last spring. In addition, they went 10-3 on the road, including all four series clinchers, en route to winning the Stanley Cup.

The hot lap is back. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/9Kq7kuv94t

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 15, 2019

The Capitals decided to swap forwards Jakub Vrana and Carl Hagelin in the lineup. Vrana is back on the second-line and Hagelin returned to the third.

With the Capitals up 2-0 in the series and the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins each down 0-3 in their respective series, the Capitals are now the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

New Stanley Cup odds from BetOnline
Caps 5/1#Isles 7/1
Flames 8/1
Blues 8/1
Golden Knights 8/1
Blue Jackets 9/1
Bruins 12/1
Predators 12/1
Lightning 12/1
Leafs 12/1
Sharks 18/1
Stars 20/1
Jets 20/1
Avs 25/1
Pens 40/1
Hurricanes 50/1

— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) April 15, 2019

The AHL’s Hershey Bears begin their postseason run against the Bridgeport Tigers (Islanders’ AHL affiliate) later this week.

Our Standard. All The Time.

Welcome to the 2019 Calder Cup Playoffs presented by @CJsTire #HBH #DefendTheDen pic.twitter.com/KS70MlvLU4

— x – Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) April 15, 2019

Hurricanes

The Hurricanes made changes to their lineup up front, swapping forward Teuvo Tervainen to the first-line and captain Justin Williams to the second. Defenseman Calvin deHann skated at the morning skate. He suffered an upper-body injury in a 3-1 loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 31 and has been out since.

Goaltender Petr Mrazek will stay in net for Carolina.

Capitals’ Game 3 Lineup

Caps projected lineup for Game 3:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Hagelin-Eller-Connolly
Burakovsky-Dowd-Stephenson

Carlson-Jensen
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Djoos

Holtby

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 15, 2019

Hurricanes’ Game 3 Lineup

Hurricanes at morning skate:

Niederreiter-Aho-Teravainen
Svechnikov-Staal-Williams
Ferland-Wallmark-Martinook
Foegele-McKegg-McGinn

Slavin-Hamilton
Pesce-Faulk
Fleury-van Riemsdyk

Mrazek (starter’s net)
McElhinney

Extras: Bean, de Haan, Maenalanen

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) April 15, 2019

Capitals Today

CAPS TODAY: Brooks Orpik became the oldest defenseman in NHL history to score an overtime goal in the postseason. More info on Orpik and the Caps at https://t.co/HecIC0ECg1 pic.twitter.com/NwNIDhjqtv

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 15, 2019

By Harrison Brown