Capitals’ lack of execution costly in Game 4 loss

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The shift that changed everything for the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Second Round started in their own zone with 11:18 remaining in the first period of Game 4 at Lenovo Center on Monday.

Up to this point in the game, the Capitals were the better team, outshooting the Carolina Hurricanes 7-4, generating grade-A scoring chances. Sure, they hadn't cashed in yet, but really, the way they were playing, it seemed like only a matter of time.

"We looked excellent to start that hockey game," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. "Fast, pucks were going to good spots, execution was spot-on. But then you have a shift or two shifts where you fail to exit the zone, you just were not able to get that puck past the blue line."

And it all goes kablooey, which is precisely what happened.

Lars Eller won a defensive-zone face-off, and four times on the same shift the Capitals could not get the puck over their own blue line, allowing the Hurricanes to stay on the attack and change momentum.

Before long the Capitals were gassed, the Hurricanes were feeling it, and lo and behold, Shayne Gostisbehere gave them a lead they never gave back by scoring at 10:24 of the first period, exactly 102 seconds after Eller won the face-off that the Capitals could do nothing with.

The Hurricanes went on to a 5-2 win, their second straight at home in this series and fifth in five home games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, to take a 3-1 lead in this best-of-7 series, putting the Capitals on the brink of elimination as the series shifts to Washington for Game 5 on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

"You don't have to make a play, you just have to get it past the blue line, and it doesn't, and now look out," Carbery said. "Those are key plays in tight series that we have to learn, and guys have to learn that it just cannot happen when you get to this point in the playoffs with the best eight teams in the National Hockey League. It just can't happen."

As much as the Hurricanes won Game 4, the Capitals lost it with a lack of execution at too many key times.

Like in Game 3, they had chances in the first 10 minutes to seize control of the game.

They couldn't finish.

Connor McMichael came off the bench and went in alone on Frederik Andersen only to shoot the puck into his right pad 39 seconds into the game. Aliaksei Protas rang the right post on a partial breakaway at 1:06. Alex Ovechkin missed on consecutive tip-ins at 4:27 and 4:30.

"If you look at last game and this game we have opportunities to get the lead right away, but we just have to find a way to score a goal," Ovechkin said. "Obviously, [Andersen’s] feeling it right now, but we have to find dirty goals, rebound, redirect."

They couldn't and they seemed to sag and get sloppy, leading to Gostisbehere's goal.

But the Capitals got a four-minute power play after Jordan Martinook's high stick made Jakob Chychrun bleed at 16:24 of the first. Here was their chance, right?

Wrong.

Their entries were disconnected. They couldn't get the puck into the zone. When they did, it was sent right back out. Carolina got a 2-on-1 and forced Logan Thompson to make a save on Eric Robinson at 18:55.

It was more of the same for the first 24 seconds of the second period as the Hurricanes' elite penalty kill, which is 25-for-27 in the playoffs, an NHL-best 92.6 percent, suffocated the Capitals, making their power play look disjointed as ever.

Of course, as if it was predictable, the Hurricanes got a jolt from the PK, and 1:05 into the period Seth Jarvis cashed in off a rebound to make it 2-0.

"We don't score on the four-minute and they score at the end of it at the beginning of the second," Capitals forward Dylan Strome said. "That's a huge point of the game. We've got to figure out our power play."

Jarvis' goal, by the way, was the result of a rebound that came off the crossbar. It got there because Thompson whiffed on catching Sebastian Aho's shot from above the left face-off circle.

But, as they've done all season, the Capitals were resilient. They got better, and eventually Chychrun scored to make it 2-1 at 5:18 of the third period.

It was a one-off, not a momentum starter.

Taylor Hall scored 3:06 later on a breakaway because Washington defensemen John Carlson and Matt Roy didn't realize he was still behind them as they pushed up the ice.

Hall never backchecked because he saw the Hurricanes thwart the Capitals forecheck and gain possession. A stretch pass from Jack Roslovic to the far blue line sent him in alone. He finished.

"When we get within a goal we've got to find a way to keep the momentum on our side, and we just didn't do that tonight," Washington forward Tom Wilson said.

It happened again later in the third.

Ovechkin scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 12:14 to make it 3-2, but 4:31 later, Rasmus Sandin's stick got stuck in the boards, allowing Hall to take the puck from under his feet and pass to Sean Walker, who showed patience and finish to give the Hurricanes a 4-2 lead.

Andrei Svechnikov iced it with an empty-net goal.

"We're giving ourselves some opportunity, we're just not executing, making the play, whatever you want to call it," Carbery said. "And we're making some mistakes and they're capitalizing."

It's happening too often to the Capitals. It's why they're now facing elimination.