Carolina can advance with win; Washington expected to shake up line combinations
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WASHINGTON — The Carolina Hurricanes can advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three seasons with a win against the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Capital One Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).
Carolina won the past two games of the best-of-7 series at home and is 2-2 on the road in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including a 2-1 overtime victory in Game 1 at Washington. They can close out the series with another road win.
“It doesn’t really change the way we want to approach this game,” Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said Thursday. “Every game is hard. We’ve been saying that basically throughout the whole playoffs and it’s true. There are no easy games. Tonight is no different. Obviously, we expect the best out of them and the best out of us, so it should be a good one.”
Facing elimination in a season when so much went right on the way to finishing first in the Eastern Conference, the Capitals are focused on trying to win a game at home, where they are 4-1 in the playoffs after going 26-9-6 in the regular season. If they can do that, they’ll force Game 6 in Carolina on Saturday.
“We don’t really look at it big-picture wise,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “It’s just one game, so there’s there starting point, just winning one hockey game. And then what gives us confidence (is) that we can do that. We’ve done it in this series. We’ve been a great hockey team all year long. We’ve been a great home team all year long, so that’s really where the confidence has drummed up for (us), is winning one hockey game on home ice.”
After scoring only two goals in losing the past two games — both in a 5-2 loss in Game 4 on Monday — the Capitals must find a way to generate more offense. Scoring first would help after they controlled play early in Games 3 and 4. They couldn’t convert on some early Grade-A chances against goalie Frederik Andersen before eventually falling behind and having to chase for the remainder of the game.
“We’ve come out well in the last two games, we started well, but we’ve got to come away with something,” Washington defenseman John Carlson said. “Just killing time isn’t good enough at this stage of the game. That will be important for us. It’s not only playing well to start but cashing in when we get those chances.”
The Hurricanes have dictated play with their aggressive forecheck for most of the series, outscoring the Capitals 12-6, so they don’t feel the need to change anything.
“That’s the trick,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Well, it’s not even the trick. It’s what we’ve been doing every day that we’ve been here is focusing on what’s right in front of us, trying to win that day, win that game.”
Teams with a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series are 321-32 (90.9 percent), including 5-0 in the 2025 playoffs. The Hurricanes are 8-0 in their history when leading 3-1.
The Capitals are 2-10 when trailing 3-1, coming back to win the 1988 Patrick Division Semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers and the 2009 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the New York Rangers.
Here is a breakdown of Game 5:
Hurricanes: Carolina has produced offense by committee in the series. Ten different players have scored goals, led by forward Andrei Svechnikov and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere with two each, and 16 have gotten at least one point, with Gostisbehere (two goals, one assist) and forwards Taylor Hall (one goal, two assists), Jack Roslovic (one goal, two assists) and Seth Jarvis (one goal, two assists) leading the way with three apiece. Only the defensively focused third line centered Jordan Staal has yet to score a goal, and five of their six defenseman have at least one point. “We’ve found some line combinations that work in the middle six and it seems to be in a good place right now,” Hall said. Jalen Chatfield, the lone defenseman without a point, is expected to play after he was the only Hurricanes player not to practice Wednesday.
Capitals: After getting only two 5-on-5 goals from forwards in the first four games — Aliaksei Protas in Game 1 and Connor McMichael in Game 2 — Washington is expected to shake up its line combinations. Most notable will be moving McMichael from left wing on the second line to replace Lars Eller at center on the third line between Andrew Mangiapane and rookie Ryan Leonard. Anthony Beauvillier will move from the fourth line to right wing on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome after having five points (one goal, four assists) in five games playing in that spot in the first round against the Montreal Canadiens. Taylor Raddysh will take Beauvillier’s spot on the fourth line after being a healthy scratch in Game 4 and Eller is expected to be a healthy scratch for the first time in the playoffs.
Number to know: 77. The number of shots on goal the Hurricanes allowed in the first four games of the series for an average of 19.3 per game, which is the lowest in the second round. The Capitals have given up 31.8 shots on goal per game.
What to look for: Can the Hurricanes withstand the desperate Capitals early push, like they did in Games 3 and 4, and close out the series? Washington needs to start with breaking out of its zone cleanly more often. Once it does, can it make life harder on Andersen by getting more pucks and bodies to the net?
“We know it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be more physical, harder for us, but we’re ready to go. We know it’s not going to be easy for us.” — Svechnikov
“I have no doubt with this group that the guys sitting on either side of me and across from me are going to bring everything they have and we’re going to do our best to show up and fight, and if we do that, we’re confident we’re going to make some noise and start with one (win).” — Capitals forward Tom Wilson
Andrei Svechnikov — Sebastian Aho — Seth Jarvis
Taylor Hall — Jack Roslovic — Logan Stankoven
Jordan Martinook — Jordan Staal — William Carrier
Eric Robinson — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Jackson Blake
Jaccob Slavin — Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov — Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere — Sean Walker
Frederik Andersen
Pyotr Kochetkov
Scratched: Tyson Jost, Riley Stillman, Juha Jaaska, Scott Morrow, Ty Smith, Alexander Nikishin, Spencer Martin
Injured: Mark Jankowski (undisclosed)
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Anthony Beauvillier
Aliaksei Protas — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane — Connor McMichael — Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Taylor Raddysh
Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun — Matt Roy
Alex Alexeyev — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Lars Eller, Ethen Frank, Dylan McIlrath, Ethan Bear, Clay Stevenson, Mitchell Gibson
Injured: Martin Fehervary (lower body), Sonny Milano (upper body)
The Hurricanes did not hold a morning skate. … If Chatfield does not play, Nikishin, a 21-year-old defenseman, could make his NHL debut. … Ovechkin took part in the morning skate after having a maintenance day Wednesday. … Lindgren dealt with a personal matter Thursday. Stevenson, a goalie, was recalled from Hershey of the American Hockey League and will back up Thompson if Lindgren cannot.
NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report
