It’s now a 2-1 series lead for the Washington Capitals. Monday’s game three of this Eastern Conference series turned out to be a playbook the Caps will have to learn from in order to keep the heavy forechecking of the Carolina Hurricanes from causing them havoc in their own end. The Caps proved last year they could beat these systems (aka Blue Jackets, Golden Knights) but it seems as though they may be missing Michal Kempny’s puck-moving somewhat.

Capitals coach Todd Rierden is making some adjustments to his lineup ahead of Thursday night's game in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Caps in practice:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Burakovsky-Eller-Connolly
Hagelin-Dowd-Boyd

Carlson-Jensen
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Siegenthaler

So, there are some changes.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 17, 2019

Tom Wilson moves to Kuznetsov’s line and TJ Oshie moves alongside Ovi and Backstrom. Vrana and Hagelin have switched also but that seems to be happening mid-game alot as well. It looks like we will see Travis Boyd for the first time as well subbing in for Chandler Stephenson.

On defense, Jonas Seigenthaler will play his 1st career NHL playoff game. The 2015 second round selection made his Caps debut this season playing in 26 games registering 4 assists, 10 penalty minutes and a +3. Christian Djoos, who was a big part of last years Cup run will be the scratch.

Andrei Svechnikov and Mecheal Ferland are out for Carolina. Svechnikov is out following a concussion in his fight with Alex Ovechkin in game 3 as this series has really heated up. Svechnikov’s brother even threatened Ovechkin on Instagram. The building is going to be rowdy and surely Ovechkin is going to be public ebemy number one.

Don’t mess with OV!! #ov #ovechkin pic.twitter.com/mlSAlvUuFI

— Alex (@alshmal81) April 16, 2019

In case you missed Don Cherry’s tke on the situation..

Don’t mess with OV!! #ov #ovechkin pic.twitter.com/mlSAlvUuFI

— Alex (@alshmal81) April 16, 2019

The Canes basically dominated the game and didn’t allow the Caps many shots let alone great scoring chances. After getting 10 shots on goal in the first period, the Caps managed just 8 more all game with only 1 in the second period.

Washington’s power play which scored the first two times of the series is now struggling as they did at times in the regular season as they have not scored since on 10 opportunities.

Game time is 7PM EST from PNC Arena in Carolina.

Game 5 this Saturday has now been officially announced a starting time of 8PM EST back in Washington at Capital One Arena.


Capital Gain:

Tom Wilson was nominated for some hardware...

Tom Wilson is the Capitals’ nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which is awarded “to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community."

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 17, 2019

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