Carolina Hurricanes: 3 Keys to Road Victory in Game 5 in Washington

The Carolina Hurricanes have tied this series up at 2-2 and have momentum on their side after two excellent games at home, they need to win two more to move on to the second round, one has to come from the road.

In the first two games at Capital One Arena, the Carolina Hurricanes have seen the misfortune of bad officiating and saw close games slip away from them. They saw themselves in the series down 0-2 quickly and now it’s tied. How?

The Carolina Hurricanes desperately needed to tighten up the neutral zone, limit the Capitals offensive time, and improve their special teams. They’ve done just that, in Game 3, they shutout the Washington Capitals 5-0 and the highlight of appreciation goes to only allowing Washington to have one shot on goal in the 2nd period. They killed all four penalties they took, they dominated in hits 52-34, and scored twice on the power-play.

Avoiding hardship, the Hurricanes overcame the expected onslaught from the Capitals in Game 4. 17 seconds in, Warren Foegele lit the lamp early to put the Hurricanes up 1-0 early in the game. Foegele has been on fire lately, putting up 5 points in 4 games so far in this series. Foegele is now on the 2nd line and he has not disappointed so far.

In the second period, the Hurricanes were outplayed for the majority of the time. The Capitals out-shot the Hurricanes 14-9 and generated more quality chances than the Hurricanes did. The power-play for the Capitals would come through with Alexander Ovechkin scoring to tie the game because of the dreaded no stick, as Brock McGinn‘s stick was broken. Shades of Game 2.

Near the ending of the second period, despite being outplayed for most of the duration, the Capitals defense broke down as Nino Niederreiter gave a clean saucer to Teuvo Teravainen to break the tie once again and give comfort before going back to the locker room. Sebastian Aho also registered an assist on the play, giving all the forwards on the first line a point.

The Hurricanes defensive play and Petr Mrazek would steal the show in the third period, limiting the Capitals to 8 shots and Mrazek cleaning up quality chances. TJ Oshie suffered an injury in the third as he loses his balance from a Warren Foegele cross-check and is expected to miss the rest of the series.

There has been speculation about a Foegele suspension but NHL Player Safety will not be giving out a suspension to Foegele. Evgeny Kuznetsov almost tied the game late but was robbed by Petr Mrazek, with even more saves in the sequence to secure the Hurricanes tying the series 2-2.

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The Carolina Hurricanes have exceeded most expectations this season, they’ve now come from being two down in the series and now, they are going to Capital One Arena to attempt to take the lead in the series for the first time. What do they need to do?

1. Continue Special Team Success

The Hurricanes have definitely improved on their penalty-kill against a dangerous power-play that has caused nightmares to most teams this season, killing off 10 penalties in the last 11 penalties in the last three games. They silenced the Capitals power-play in Game 2 and 3, and at times on the penalty-kill, they actually go on the attack and force the Capitals to play on their heels.

This Hurricanes team not only just clears the puck, they hold on to the puck as long as they can, killing every single second they can before throwing it away for a line change. Their line changes have been excellent, not allowing worse odds on odd-man rushes. They don’t back down, they hold their ground in the neutral zone and take away almost every passing lane.

Not only has the Hurricanes penalty-kill improved, but their power-play has seen three goals in their last 12 power-plays, which is not that good, but definitely an improvement from zero out of three in Game 1.

Although the Hurricanes power-play may not score at times, it does give momentum to the Hurricanes bench and the Hurricanes will exhaust the Capitals defense, if they continue their tape-to-tape passing and dangerous shots.

Although, the special teams have improved, it is not enough to be satisfied with, the Hurricanes will need to channel even more energy to finish this series. As the Hurricanes will celebrate improvement, the Capitals will be intensely making changes as well, shuffling lines and changing strategy. The Hurricanes will need to adapt to the situation, if the environment changes.

2. Take No Excuses

As the Carolina Hurricanes will be told their game has been well and to continue, the Washington Capitals are being told to change their game and adjust. Despite the TJ Oshie injury being obviously, an accident, and post-game interviews after Game 4 being topics of interests, the Capitals are expected to step up their physical game and play a rougher and grittier game.

The Hurricanes have been physical but they need to weather the storm, Ovechkin and Tom Wilson will be called upon to get the crowd in it early with goals and big hits, whatever they can bring. Michael Ferland and Jordan Martinook are out with injuries, unless a game-time decision is made otherwise. Everyone will need to put their hand into the circle and play together and lay hits and silence this Capital One Arena crowd from the puck drop.

Although, it is social media outcries for the Capitals players to target Warren Foegele for an accident in Game 4, it wouldn’t be much of a shock if Capitals players start placing hits and covering up Foegele and the Hurricanes’ stars.

The Hurricanes should not allow any excuses for dirty plays by the Capitals. Game 1 and 2 was enough, the Hurricanes need to respond and show that they will not be pushed around. This does not call for taking penalties and targeting players, but it does call for protesting the referees and intensifying physicality.