The Washington Capitals face a tall task in their Round 2 series against the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina has been relentlessly attacking Washington, which has caused significant problems for the Capitals in generating an offensive attack of their own. While some statistics suggest Washington’s offense should have produced more goals in the series, the Capitals have not capitalized on their scoring chances in Round 2. Capitals’ head coach Spencer Carbery is expected to make some lineup adjustments for Game 5 tonight at Capital One Arena. If he needs to, Washington’s bench boss can inspire the Capitals with lessons from Washington’s history books with a pair of comeback wins from a 3-1 deficit in franchise history.
According to NHL EDGE Advance Stats, the high-danger scoring chances in the series are dead even (24-24). However, Carolina has converted four of its opportunities into goals for a 16% conversion rate. Washington has been unable to score on any of their 24 high-danger scoring chances.
Carolina has conceded six goals in four games to a Washington team that averaged 3.49 goals during the regular season. “That’s the most important part, it’s what you give up,” Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “If we can keep that number down, that’s going to give you a chance every night. That’s what it’s done.”
The Capitals must find even-strength scoring to stave off elimination. Washington has three goals at five on five over the series’ first four games: one each in Game 1, Game 2, and Game 4. Frederik Andersen shut out Washington in their Game 3 loss at the Lenovo Center. If Washington hopes to play a Game 6 in Raleigh on Saturday night, the Capitals must produce more than their current rate of 1.5 goals per game.
On Wednesday, Connor McMichael skated as a third-line center between Andrew Mangiapane and Ryan Leonard at practice. The 24-year-old, typically a winger on Washington’s second line, was caught off guard by his move to the middle. “Unexpected,” McMichael told NHL.com about the lineup change. “I think anytime you’re losing games, especially in the playoffs, you kind of expect a few changes, but it wasn’t really in the back of my mind.”
The lineup switch was always a move that Carbery could turn to in an emergency, like the Capitals are facing in Game 5. “I played the position my whole life, so I think it’s going to be seamless for me,” McMichael said. “It’s something, even in practice, a few times this year I jumped in line rushes up the middle just to stay fresh.”
According to NHL.com, the chain reaction to McMichael’s move to center will impact most of the Capitals’ lineup. Aliaksei Protas will slide into the second-line opening alongside Tom Wilson and Pierre-Luc Dubois, while Anthony Beauvillier will be elevated from the fourth to the top line alongside Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome (replacing Protas). Taylor Raddysh will re-enter the lineup to fill the empty fourth-line spot, and Lars Eller is expected to be the healthy scratch.
Beauvillier was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 2025 Trade Deadline and he played on the top line with Ovechkin and Strome in Round 1 against the Montreal Canadiens. The 27-year-old forward recorded an assist in each of his first three Capitals playoff games while averaging nearly 14 minutes of ice time. With Protas returning to full strength in Round 2, Beauvillier’s ice time has tumbled to under 12 minutes against the Hurricanes.
Washington faces a difficult task if the team from D.C. hopes to scale the comeback mountain over the next week. The Capitals have rallied from a 3-1 series hole twice in their 50-year history, including the 2009 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals where Ovechkin was heavily involved in the Capitals’ successful comeback.
The New York Rangers secured a 3-1 series advantage over the Capitals following a tight 2-1 win in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden on April 22, 2009. Ovechkin scored at 2:13 of the third period, but Washington could not put another puck behind Henrik Lundqvist in the loss. Another Ovechkin goal finished the scoring in a 4-0 home win for the Capitals in Game 5, then Washington stormed out to a multi-goal lead on the road in Game 6 and never let up in a 5-3 victory (Ovechkin’s goal extended Washington’s lead to 5-1.) In Game 7 at Verizon Center, the Rangers finally stopped Ovechkin. However, Sergei Federov scored the game-winning goal with under five minutes to play in regulation of a 2-1 Capitals win to send Washington into the 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Penguins.
Related: 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2 Hub
In the 1988 postseason, the Capitals erased a 3-1 series hole in a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Patrick Division Semifinals. Washington allowed a multi-goal lead to slip away as defenseman Kjell Samuelsson tied the game with 53 seconds remaining in regulation in Game 4 before Flyers forward Murray Craven ended the game 1:18 into overtime for a 5-4 Flyers win at The Spectrum. The Capitals fought off elimination for the first time with a 5-2 win on Capital Centre ice in Game 5, ten scored seven goals on Ron Hextall in Philadelphia during a 7-2 beatdown in Game 6. In the winner-take-all Game 7 in Washington, Dale Hunter scored the overtime game-winner at 5:57 to send the Capitals to the Patrick 1988 Division Finals against the New Jersey Devils.
It won’t be easy for Washington to make the adjustments to win the series against Carolina. However, if he needs to, Carbery can reach back into the Capitals’ history books and point to a pair of series in which Washington defied the odds and skated into the next round of the playoffs following a Game 7 victory. The Capitals must take this Round 2 series the maximum distance or suffer the fate of being the disappointed team on the losing side of the NHL’s postseason handshake line.
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