It has been an eventful Stanley Cup playoffs already for the Capitals. Through the first four games of their first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens they have yet to play well for a full 60 minutes. The starting goalie was benched minutes into Game 2. And the NHL’s best power play has managed one goal — while its shaky penalty kill has scored two.
Yet despite all that, Washington is in control with a 3-1 series lead entering Game 5 on Friday night at Verizon Center.
“When you come away from [Bell Centre] with two games it’s impossible to do any better,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said of his team’s back-to-back wins in front of raucous crowds in Montreal. “That was our goal and luckily we survived it.”
Washington hasn’t been in this position since 1998 when it had a 3-1 series lead over the Buffalo Sabres. It lost Game 5 at home, but set up the franchise’s crowning moment when forward Joe Juneau scored an overtime goal in Game 6 to win the Eastern Conference title and send the team to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time.
In each of the last two seasons the Caps have fallen behind 3-1 in a playoff series. They forced a seventh game against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2008 and rallied to beat the New York Rangers last spring. Both of those were first-round series. This current group’s lone experience leading a series was in the second round last year against the Pittsburgh Penguins when Washington was ahead 2-0, but lost the ensuing three games and eventually fell at home in Game 7.
“It’s definitely a much better feeling knowing that you’ve got the lead,” said forward Eric Fehr. “But the tough game to win is always the fourth one. Hopefully we can win that one.”
Depth has been a key factor for Washington. Boyd Gordon, a healthy scratch in Game 2, returned to score a shorthanded goal in Game 3 and assist on another in Game 4. In all, 10 different players have scored a goal for the Caps and 12 have at least two points in the series. Only six Canadiens have scored a goal and only eight players have more than two points through four games. Washington is outscoring Montreal during 5-on-5 play by a 14-8 margin. The Canadiens, meanwhile, have four power-play goals.
