The Washington Capitals fell the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 2-1 on Thursday night at PNC Arena in Raleigh to head back home with the First Round series tied 2-2. Goaltender Braden Holtby made 22 saves in the loss.
Capitals’ Game 4 Lines
The Capitals made a lot of line changes following their 5-0 loss in Game 3 of the series. Forwards T.J. Oshie and Tom Wilson flipped spots in the top-six. Forwards Andre Burakovsky and Carl Hagelin also switched places in the bottom-six. Center Travis Boyd and defenseman Jonas Seigenthaler, who made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut in Game 4, drew into the lineup in favor of forward Chandler Stephenson and defenseman Christian Djoos, respectively.
Defenseman Calvin de Hann returned to the lineup for the Hurricanes after missing the past six games with an upper-body injury, replacing Haydn Fleury. Forwards Michael Ferland (upper-body) and Andrei Svechnikov (concussion) each missed the game. Patrick Brown and Saku Maenalanen stepped in for them.
First Period
17 seconds in, forward Warren Foegele buried a beautiful backhand pass from defenseman Jaccob Slavin into a wide open net to strike first for Carolina.
Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook left the game with 7:32 left in the period after going into the boards after missing a hit on Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov. He would return briefly before not appearing at all in the third period.
The Capitals led 9-8 in shots, 14-12 in hits, and had four giveaways while the Hurricanes had six in the opening frame.
The Hurricanes led 6-5 in blocked shots, 8-0 in takeaways, and won 56% of the draws through the first period.
Each team went 0-for-1 on the power-play in the first.
Second Period
Captain Alex Ovechkin blasted his second of the postseason past the blocker of goaltender Petr Mrazek from his office after getting the puck from defenseman Dmitry Orlov at the top to tie it 10:35 into the second.
OVI TO THE RESCUE! #ALLCAPS #CapsCanes pic.twitter.com/h8sLFKDI05
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 19, 2019
Forward Teuvo Teravainen tucked the puck up past the high glove of Holtby on a breakaway to make it 2-1 Hurricanes with 27.9 seconds left in the second.
The Capitals led 23-17 in shots, including 14-9 in the second, and 21-20 in hits after two. The Capitals went 1-for-2 on the man advantage through 40 minutes.
The Hurricanes led 12-1 in takeaways and won 55% of the faceoffs through two. They went 0-for-2 on the power-play in the first two periods.
Each team posted 12 blocked shots and seven giveaways in the first 40 minutes.
Third Period
Forward T.J. Oshie left the game after getting cross-checked by Feogele from behind.
The Capitals led 31-24 in shots, including 8-7 in the third, and 18-16 in blocked shots. The Capitals went 1-for-3 on the man advantage and had nine giveaways while Carolina had 10. They also won 52% of the faceoff dot and went 1-for-3 on the power-play.
The Hurricanes led 34-33 in hits and 15-3 in takeaways. They went 0-for-2 on the power-play.
The series shifts back to the District for Game 5 on Saturday night, where the Capitals will look to grab the series lead back. Action from Capital One Arena can be seen on NBC beginning at 8 PM ET.
By Harrison Brown