The Washington Capitals came into the third period of Game 4 trailing by one goal. Then they ripped off four straight in a 5-2 win to go up 3-1 in the best of seven first round series. Game 5 is coming up next Wednesday night from Capital One Arena.
Just finish it babes
This series so far has been entertaining and intense. Many on both teams have stepped up. For the Canadiens history will be on their side as they once trailed the Capitals in a playoff sereis three games to one. We all know what happened but this year is different.
Even with the circumstances similiar and the Canadiens now in that survival mode, the Caps should wrap this up in five games. That was the prediction I had before the series began and I'm sticking with it.
The Caps will be looking to win their first playoff series since capturing the Stanley Cup in 2018. They're also searching for their first home playoff series win since 2015 back when the Caps defeated the New York Islanders in seven games in the first year of the Barry Trotz era.
Some advanced stats. The Caps as a team have a 45.52 percent corsi for percentage through these four games. While the Canadiens are the better team at that category at 54.48 percent the Capitals are the better squad in expected goals for percentage at 62.50 percent compared to the Canadiens 37.50 percent per Natural Stat Trick.
So far in the playoffs Logan Thompson has a 2.54 goals agains average and a .912 save percentage as he overcame a late Game 3 injury with a stellar Game 4 performance with 16 saves that included stopping all nine shots faced in the final period.
Dylan Strome leads the Caps in points with seven as well as assists with five to go along with two goals this series. Alex Ovechkin and Connor McMichael each lead the Caps with three playoff goals this spring.
But perhaps whats more important than the statistics we've just mentioned is how tight knit the Capitals are. You have Brandon Duhaime eating the lineup sheet and then scoring twice in Game 4 including a beauty in the aftermath of a Tom Wilson hit that changed the game completely.
You also have Ovechkin singing Jucy J's Bandz a Make Her Dance in the tunnel before warmups. Jakob Chychrun's beautiful flow makes each one of those antics a must watch. Looking at it from the surface, this team hasn't been this close since 2018. With that kind of vibe it's only right that the Caps wrap this series up quickly. That means Wednesday night in Game 5.