The Washington Capitals couldn’t buy a break against the Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-2 loss on Monday night. After failing to convert on a bevy of high-danger chances throughout the game, the Caps finally got within a goal of the Hurricanes in the third period of Game 4 before their awful luck struck again.
With 3:24 left in the final frame of regulation, defenseman Rasmus Sandin aggressively pinched to try to keep a puck in Carolina’s zone. As he went to engage in a board battle, the blade of his stick got caught in the boards at Lenovo Center, leading to an odd-man rush goal for Sean Walker at the other end.
Walker’s goal put the Hurricanes up 4-2 with just 3:15 remaining in the third period, 4:31 after Alex Ovechkin had brought the Capitals within one with a five-on-three power-play goal. Carolina would add an empty-net tally from Andrei Svechnikov with 2:21 left on the clock, sealing their victory.
Outside the road arena eating his stick, Sandin was one of the Capitals’ better five-on-five players in the game. He skated 18:22 of five-on-five ice time, second on the team only to Jakob Chychrun (20:24), and the Caps created 14 of their 24 scoring chances and six of their nine high-danger chances during his minutes.
The Game 4 defeat will see the Capitals return home facing elimination and in a 3-1 series hole. The Caps have come from behind 3-1 in a playoff series to win just once in the Ovechkin era, rattling off three straight wins against the New York Rangers in the first round of the 2009 postseason.
The 2009 series win was only the second time in franchise history they’ve turned around a 3-1 deficit, with the first and only other example coming against the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1988 Patrick Division Semifinals. Dale Hunter scored the overtime winner in Game 7 to send the Caps to the next round.
