Why the Hurricanes aren’t relaxing after taking 3-1 series lead over Capitals
The game was long over Monday but Jordan Staal still had work to do.
The Carolina Hurricanes captain was in an exercise area of the locker room at Lenovo Center, doing pushups, pushing himself. Up, down, up, down ...
Staal is 36 years old. He had just played a little more than 17 minutes, including nearly six minutes on the Canes’ penalty kill, the kind of grueling job that can drain you quickly.
But there he was, working, sweating. The unstated message: The Hurricanes still have more to do to finish off the Washington Capitals in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Canes now have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series after a 5-2 victory Monday in Game 4. Some would call that a cushy, comfortable margin. The Canes do not. They will go to Washington on Thursday with the intent of winning Game 5 at Capital One Arena to close it out, more than aware that the Caps have a tough, talented team and will fight back.
“It’s never easy to close out a series,” said Canes defenseman Dmitry Orlov, who played for the Caps before coming to Carolina. “It’s going to be a lot of battles, a lot of scrums, They’ll battle for their lives, for their season.
“We cannot come in and expect it to be easy. It’s not going to be easy.”
Added Canes forward Taylor Hall: “Obviously, we like where we’re at. We have a couple of days here to regroup and it’s about going into their building and playing the best we can.”
The Caps have to believe they have seen the Canes’ best, especially from Andersen in net. The Caps’ goals Monday came when Jakob Chychrun pounced on a rebound with an open net and later when Alexander Ovechkin scored a 5-on-3 goal on the power play.
Andersen, who shut out the Caps 4-0 in Game 3, took care of the rest and made some testing saves to keep the Caps stifled.
Hall had given the Canes a 3-1 lead about three minutes after Chychrun’s goal in the third period, getting open at the Washington blue line, skating in alone to beat goalie Logan Thompson to the blocker side.
But Hall then had the worst seat in the house — in the penalty box, after a tripping call. Orlov soon joined him as the Caps had a two-man advantage, and Ovechkin unloaded a shot from the left circle for his first goal of the series to make it a 3-2 game.
But the Canes had consistently outworked the Caps 4 on 5, killing off a double-minor high-sticking call late in the first period, drawing a standing ovation. After Ovechkin’s goal, they killed off the Orlov penalty and then made it 4-2 when defenseman Sean Walker scored with 3:15 left in regulation – Walker’s first goal of the playoffs.
“Walks has really been solid,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I think his game has gone up another level. That goal tonight was an indicator of what he’s capable of.”
Walker took a pass from Hall along the left boards near the Carolina blue line and carried the puck into the Washington zone. He cut back through the left circle, slowed up near the slot and beat Thompson.
“That’s something that’s really important, especially at this time of year,” Walker said. “You’ve got to answer when teams are making their push.
“Obviously you don’t want to give up those goals, especially in the third. But I think as a whole we kept our composure, didn’t panic, just stuck to our systems.”
That’s what experienced teams tend to do come playoff time when things get tight and playoff games are to won or lost.
“There’s no panic when things don’t go our way or whatever happened tonight (as) they closed the gap,” Brind’Amour said. “Our older guys have been through this and some of our not-so-old guys have been through this for a few years. So I think there’s a bit of maturity there.”
As one Triangle coach might say, it’s now on to Washington for the Hurricanes.
“We still have things we can get better at,” Hall said. “The series isn’t over until it’s over. An elimination game is always the hardest one to win and they’re probably going to play their best game in the series in Game 5, so we have to be ready.”
That’s why Staal was still working after a win, getting in his pushups. Up, down …
This story was originally published May 13, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
