The Hurricanes are brimming with confidence following a
2-1 win in Game 4
at PNC Arena on Thursday that evened the best-of-7 series with the defending Stanley Cup champions.
"You're here to win, so I think all of us believe we can win," Hurricanes rookie forward Warren Foegele said. "We have a right to be in the playoffs, you know? So for us, we have the mindset to win."
RELATED: [Complete Capitals vs. Hurricanes series coverage]
However, Carolina realizes it will need to win at least one game in Washington, which has home-ice advantage, in order to win the series. The home team has won each of the four games and Game 5 is at Capital One Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, SN360, SN1, TVAS).
But the Hurricanes return to Washington with a stronger belief than they had when they opened the series there.
Carolina had lost six straight games to the Capitals, including going 0-3-1 in the regular season, following its 4-3 overtime loss in Game 2 at Washington on Saturday. After winning 5-0 in Game 3 on Monday and holding off a much stronger effort from the Capitals on Thursday, the Hurricanes no longer wonder what they need to do to defeat them.
They know.
"You start to maybe doubt it a little bit when you're down 2-0, and you start to have desperate moments," Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton said. "We had two good games, obviously, and home ice is huge. The games were a lot different here. … We'll see what happens when we go [to Washington] Saturday."