Caps, Cats Take it Back to Florida

May 11 vs. Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena
Game 5, First Round Stanley Cup Playoff Series (series even, 2-2)
Time:7:30 p.m.
TV:NBCSW, ESPN2
Radio:Capitals Radio 24/7, 106.7 The Fan
Washington Capitals (44-26-12)
Florida Panthers (58-18-6)

Two nights after Florida's Carter Verhaeghe scored in overtime to lift the Panthers to a 3-2 win over Washington in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series between the two former Southeast Division rivals, the Caps and the Cats will battle once again on Wednesday night in Game 5 at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Fla.
Verhaeghe's goal - his second of the game and third of the series - shrinks the set to a best-of-three, putting the Caps in a position where they'll need to win at least one road game if they're going to stage an upset of the Panthers and move on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in four years.
The Caps won Game 1 of the series here last week against a Florida team than rolled up a gaudy 34-7-0 record on home ice during the regular season.
"A series is full of moments that are good - high - and moments that are low," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "And you've got to wake up every day and attack the day. And so we've moved on from that, and we'll get back to work and travel to Florida and get ready to play [Wednesday].
"We've been a real good road team. We like the games that we've played - regular season and playoffs - we've liked the games that we've played down in Florida. And guys have done a good job on the road, so we'll get ready to go down and battle there."
Washington had the opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Panthers in Monday's Game 4, but the Caps weren't really able to get to their game. They've typically supported goaltender Ilya Samsonov well offensively in his three seasons in the NHL, but they wasted a strong Samsonov night in net in Game 4, getting doubled up in shots on net (32-16) and essentially shot attempts (73-37) on a night in which special teams time was close to even.
Despite all that, the Caps never trailed in the contest, and they owned a late 2-1 lead after Evgeny Kuznetsov scored on a breakaway midway through the third. But the Caps couldn't close out the Cats; Florida pulled even when Sam Reinhart scored his first career playoff goal with 2:04 remaining in regulation.
"Those are the kind of situations you want to be in as a hockey player," says Reinhart. "It's a game that can really go either way at the end of it, and we stuck with it and we're happy with the result. It's obviously a much better feeling going back home 2-2 as opposed to down 3-1 [in the series].
"There's not much room out there to begin with, and they're a team that they get the lead, it's tough to come back. It's tough to find that room, especially when they're defending that much harder trying to protect it. We were able to stick with and get a bounce at the end. It's a game of inches, and tonight proved it."
Indeed, it did. Less than a minute before Reinhart's game-tying marker, Caps winger Garnet Hathaway launched a shot from the Washington end of the ice toward the vacated Florida net. It missed by inches, and it became an icing call against the Caps instead. The Panthers won the ensuing offensive-zone face-off, and eventually evened the game on Reinhart's goal and the series on Verhaeghe's goal in the extra session.
"At times in the third period, I thought we had a pretty good push," says Kuznetsov. "And the second period wasn't our best, but that's why we've got Sammy in net. He gave us a chance to fight for that game. Third period, it was everything in our hands, and eventually that's how it is. We're going to play best-of-three right now, and there is no panic, and it's still a pretty good chance."
Going into the series against the heavily favored Panthers, the Caps likely would have been pleased to be even with Florida after four games. But Washington has twice followed up strong performances - and victories - in the odd-numbered games of the series with uneven outings in the even-numbered games. The Caps haven't been able to put together consecutive wins in the playoffs for over three years, but they remain in a position to win this series without needing to win consecutive games.
Obviously, if they lose Wednesday's Game 5, they'll need to win two straight to keep their season going.
Washington has been effective at limiting Florida's potent and prolific offensive attack; the Panthers are the highest scoring team the NHL has seen since 1995-96. But the Caps limited the Cats to just two goals at 5-on-5 in the two games in Washington, and the Capitals have yet to yield a power-play goal against in the series. What the Caps will be seeking on Wednesday is a better balance between stifling the Cats and testing goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who had a decidedly light workload in Game 4.
"Obviously, I think everyone understands it wasn't our best effort [Monday] night," says Caps defenseman Justin Schultz. "We can play faster and get back to the way we played the first three games. Even in Game 2, I thought we played pretty well; it was stretches where we didn't that they capitalized on.
"We've had a good series so far, and we knew it was going to be a long, hard-fought series. We're looking forward to the next game."
Game 4 was there for the taking for the Caps, but they can't spend time lamenting what could have been.
"It was [there for the taking]," says Laviolette of Game 4. "But we've got to play better. There was a lot that came at us. Even though we defended the net pretty well, we need to find a way to establish more possession, more with the puck, more offensively.
"The defense did a good job; from a scoring chance standpoint, there wasn't a lot that we gave up, but yet the zone time was a big differential and the attempts on our net, the volume that's coming at us. We've got to try and take some of that and put it down into their end, which will alleviate it from being in our end."