The Canes take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
The Carolina Hurricanes took Game 4 Monday night, bringing the team within one victory of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Washington played much better, but Carolina stuck to their game and responded each time the Capitals grabbed some momentum.
The Canes put together another team effort as 12 players tallied a point.
Taylor Hall and Sean Walker led the Hurricanes with two points. Each scored a goal, with Walker’s impressive delay and sidestep snipe being his first career playoff goal.
Frederik Andersen stopped 19 of 21 shots. Once again, Andersen was a difference-maker, blanking the Caps during the first two periods and stopping several high-percentage shots.
The Capitals started on time. For the first ten minutes of the game, Washington controlled the play and had a couple of Grade A chances.
A team effort kept the puck in the zone, and Shayne Gostisbehere’s dangling on the blue line led to the Canes’ first goal.
Once the Hurricanes found their game, the meat grinder started to turn. Carolina’s forecheck ramped up, spending the rest of the first period in Washington’s end.
In the second, the Canes picked up where they left off in the first.
A forced turnover by the Caps led to a Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis breakout. Washington goalie Logan Thompson could not wrangle Aho’s shot, and Jarvis put the rebound home for a 2-0 lead.
Washington found some rhythm halfway through the period, but could not solve Andersen.
Freddie comes up with another huge stop, this time on Dylan Strome. pic.twitter.com/yBUN6GcJ9a
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) May 13, 2025
Another one for Freddie, this time as Brandon Duhaime elects to fire on a two-on-one.
Washington’s been pushing back since Carolina went up two, and #31 has been critical in keeping the score stay the same. pic.twitter.com/8z4oRlUE3K
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) May 13, 2025
Washington created some odd-man rushes with some forced turnovers in the neutral zone.
The momentum generated by the Capitals in the latter half of the second period spilled over into the third.
The Capitals scored for the first time in five periods when Jakob Chychrun streaked to the net and scored on a weak-side one-timer.
Washington kept pressing, but ended up doing too much. The Caps’ offensive aggressiveness led to the Canes taking advantage behind the defense.
Great vision by Jack Roslovic led to a Hall breakaway goal to restore Carolina’s two-goal lead.
With about eight minutes left in the game, interference on Dmitry Orlov gave Washington a 1:18 two-man advantage. The Caps scored just 17 seconds into the two-man advantage to bring them back within one.
Alexander Ovechkin tallied his first point of the series with the goal on the two-man advantage.
The Hurricanes returned to their game and were rewarded just over four minutes later.
Great board play forced a turnover and led to a three-on-two breakout. Walker’s dangle, pause, and sidestep led to a highlight reel goal worthy of his first career playoff marker.
A minute later, Andrei Svechnikov put the exclamation point on the game with an empty net goal.
The Hurricanes defeated the Capitals 5-2 and took a 3-1 series lead. Carolina is 8-0 when up 3-1 in a playoff series.
Game 5 is Thursday at 7:00 PM in Washington, DC.