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Washington Capitals Look to Close Out the Series in Game 6

By Michael Marzzacco |
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 20: Sebastian Aho #20 of the Carolina Hurricanes and Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals battle for the puck in the first period in Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena on April 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 20: Sebastian Aho #20 of the Carolina Hurricanes and Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals battle for the puck in the first period in Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena on April 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)

Up 3-2 in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Washington Capitals have a chance to close it out Monday night in Game 6.

The Washington Capitals got to this point with a dominating performance on home ice Saturday night in Game 5. It was a contest that saw the Capitals shut down the Carolina Hurricanes en route to a badly-needed 6-0 win to regain control of the series heading into a big Game 6.

Capitals fans did a great job on Saturday at Capital One Arena. They showed a lot of love for last year’s playoff hero Devante Smith-Pelly who was called up from Hershey and made his return to the Capitals lineup for the first time since being placed on waivers.

Perhaps the most touching thing the fans did was chant “T.J. Oshie” late in the third period. The top-six right winger’s season ended when he broke his collarbone in Game 4 after a hit by Warren Foegele right by the boards. That win was for him and so will the next 13 wins.

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Washington has no choice but to move forward with the “next man up” mentality.

The Capitals will also need to have a “killer instinct” if they want to avoid any chance at this series going to a Game 7. They have to go back to a tough road environment in Raleigh.

It’s a place where NBC Sports Washington Capitals pregame and postgame host Rob Carlin said was one of the toughest road venues the Capitals have played in the last two playoff runs.

Carlin made note of this in Game 3’s postgame show as well as on NBCSW’s Capitals Talk podcast. Yes, apparently a worse road environment than Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Columbus or Vegas.

The Capitals had that killer instinct the last four times they were one win away from either advancing to the next round or doing something greater. Even when they came up short in the previous spring in 2017, they had a killer instinct in the first round beating the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime of Game 6.

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Puck drop is at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Washington and the NBC Sports network.

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