Hurricanes push Capitals to brink with Game 4 win in Eastern 2nd Round

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Sean Walker and Taylor Hall each had a goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Washington Capitals 5-2 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Lenovo Center on Monday.

Shayne Gostisbehere, Seth Jarvis, and Andrei Svechnikov scored, and Frederik Andersen made 19 saves for the Hurricanes, who are the No. 2 seed from the Metropolitan Division.

“[Andersen] has had our back this whole series, it’s about time we helped him out a little bit," Jarvis said. "It’s nice to see (goals) go in, and it’s good to contribute offensively and not have to rely on him so much.”

Jakob Chychrun had a goal and an assist, and Alex Ovechkin scored for the Capitals, who are the No. 1 seed from the Metropolitan and the Eastern Conference. Logan Thompson made 33 saves.

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

The Hurricanes lead the best-of-7 series 3-1. Game 5 will be at Capital One Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

Carolina took a 1-0 lead at 10:24 of the first period. Gostisbehere stickhandled away from Capitals forward Brandon Duhaime and scored with a wrist shot through traffic from the top of the left circle.

The Hurricanes killed off two penalties later in the first after Gostisbehere put them in front, including a double minor for high-sticking on Jordan Martinook that ended 24 seconds into the second period.

“The kill was huge tonight,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s all about timing, too. Six minutes of penalties in the first period, that takes you right out of anything. To be able to come out with the lead was a big key.”

Jarvis made it 2-0 at 1:05 of the second period. Sebastian Aho’s initial shot deflected off Thompson’s glove and the crossbar and landed at the right post, where Jarvis shot it in off the Capitals goalie.

"It's a product of the way they play,” Capitals forward Dylan Strome said. “I think a little bit is self-inflicted, but we had chances. Games have not been pretty for us in this rink over the years that I've been here, and these two games felt like a step in the right direction of playing good hockey in this room.”

Washington cut the lead to 2-1 at 5:18 of the third period. Matt Roy took a pass from Pierre-Luc Dubois and then sent a feed to a driving Chychrun for a shot into an open net from the right circle.

The Hurricanes responded to make it 3-1 at 8:24. Hall took a stretch pass from Jack Roslovic at the offensive blue line and scored on a breakaway with snap shot below Thompson's blocker.

“I got my head up and tried to look at where the goalie was,” Hall said. “He plays somewhat deep in his net, so shooting is a pretty good option. If you deke, he’s going to have a lot better chance at it. I just picked my corner and it was a good shot. ‘Rosie’ and I made eye contact, and he made a great pass.”

Ovechkin scored on a 5-on-3 power play with a one-timer from the top of the left circle to make it 3-2 at 12:14.

However, the Hurricanes again answered back to push it to 4-2 at 16:45. Walker led a 3-on-2 rush before keeping the puck and scoring from the left circle. The play started after Hall poked the puck free along the boards in Carolina’s defensive zone and pushed a backhand pass ahead to Walker.

“‘Hallsy’ made a great play to keep it going," Walker said. "He saw me coming. I tried to be patient. Once I stepped inside, I felt like I had a good lane, so I just shot it.”

Svechnikov scored an empty-net goal with 2:21 remaining for the 5-2 final.

“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,” Capitals forward Tom Wilson said. “Whether it's the four-minute power play or a big PK or whatever it is, those moments are huge and we've got to pull more of those our way because they're getting too many of those big moments in their favor and it's helping them win games.”

The Hurricanes, who defeated the New Jersey Devils in five games in the first round, now have to chance to do the same against the Capitals.

“If I’m just honest how I feel about it, the first two games might have been better than some of [Games 3 and 4],” Brind’Amour said. “Just the chances we’ve given up are a little too much for me. But obviously at this time of year it’s about results. I like where we’re at, that’s for sure.”

NOTES: Carolina is 5-0 at home this postseason. ... Ovechkin scored his 77th career postseason goal to pass Mario Lemieux for 12th in NHL history. ... Washington has had 21 shots on goal in each of the past three games after registering 14 in Game 1 of the series. … Ten players have scored Carolina’s 12 goals in the series. … Hurricanes forward Eric Robinson had nine hits.