Capitals ‘turn the page’ for Game 4 after blowout loss to Hurricanes

Capitals defenseman John Carlson said he knows how ugly Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes was. But Washington’s alternate captain downplayed concerns that Game 3’s disappointment could follow his squad into Monday’s Game 4.

“Turn the page. We’ve got a chance to get home ice back,” he told reporters from the team hotel on Sunday. “That’s always the message: win or lose, good or bad, there’s so much emotion and so much back and forth in this series that being ultra-focused on the next one is a big deal.”

Another loss on Monday still wouldn’t be fatal for the Capitals, who trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. It would remove any room for error, though.

“We split at home,” forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “Now our job is to split here. There’s no panic.”

The Capitals’ postgame process hasn’t changed, players said. They watched the film and pinpointed what went wrong.

It might’ve been easier to find what went right in the blowout loss.  

Washington’s game plan didn’t work on Saturday. Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov and Jack Roslovic powered the Hurricanes to a dominant home victory. The Hurricanes became Stanley Cup favorites in the process, according to most sportsbooks.

“Sometimes you need those individual efforts,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We had that.”

First, it was Svechnikov springing into the circle to beat Carlson to the puck off a faceoff, then zipping it past Capitals goalie Logan Thompson at 12:34 of the second for Game 3’s first goal.

“I just saw the puck kind of loose and tried to make the move closer to the puck, and got the puck and shot it,” Svechnikov said.

That made the 25-year-old one of four players in this postseason to score at least six goals.

Then there was Roslovic, who scored 22 goals in the regular season and played as the fourth-line center through the first three games of the first-round series against New Jersey.

But Brind’Amour shuffled the lineup for Game 4 against the Devils and went with Mark Jankowski, who held the role for the final two games against the Devils and then for the Game 1 win against Washington before exiting with an undisclosed injury.

Roslovic returned for Thursday’s Game 2 loss, then came through in a big way Saturday night with a multipoint night while centering the second line. He broke through on the power play by taking a feed from Brent Burns up top, then sent the puck skittering through an opening off Thompson’s right leg with 1:03 left in the second period to extend the lead.

He also assisted on Eric Robinson’s goal early in the third that pushed the margin to 3-0.

After keeping a furious Carolina attack off the scoreboard in the first period of Game 3, defense remains a focus for Washington.

It’s hard to win while allowing four goals in the final two periods.

“It’s pretty simple. I’m well aware of me and my game and what I’m capable of. I can be better. Just as the team will do, I’m looking forward to another chance,” Carlson said. “I know there’s a lot of noise around that, but I’m not worried about it.”

“There’s no panic,” Dubois said. “They’re a good team. We didn’t expect to win in four.”

Game 4 begins at 7 p.m. on Monday in Raleigh. The series shifts back to the District for Game 5 on Thursday night.

This article is based in part on wire service reports.