There’s no question that this Capitals team was nowhere near at their best in Game 3. They seemed ill-equipped to handle the big spotlight of Bell Centre, of putting a stranglehold on the series, and of taking out a team that had pushed back in two previous games.
Last night was a very different story, thankfully with a very different outcome, as well.
It wasn’t a perfect game, of course. The special teams performance by the Caps was abysmal – you cannot be given five power plays and squander that in the playoffs – and they need more in general from their big guys both up front and on defense. But they played much smarter hockey in Game 4, limited Montreal’s offensive opportunities (the Habs had just 18 shots on goal, only 12 at even strength), and showed off the late-game resilience that became a hallmark of their game throughout the 2024-25 campaign.
Despite all of that, the Caps went into the third period trailing 2-1 after the Habs struck twice on the power play. They needed a big moment to get back into the game, and they got one courtesy of Tom Wilson and Brandon Duhaime; it was a moment that not only changed the game, but potentially the series.
First came Wilson’s moment, as he absolutely demolished Alexandre Carrier along the walls in a huge – and LEGAL, that’s the key here – hit that separated the player from the puck and sent Carrier to the bench:
From there, the puck ended up deep in the Capitals’ zone, picked up by Trevor van Riemsdyk. TvR sent it over to Jakub Chychrun, who sent in the forwards with a pass up the middle before coming off the ice on a line change. Duhaime took over from there, stripping the puck from Mike Matheson right in front of Jakub Dobeš and putting it on net, where it bounced off of Cole Caufield and in for the equalizer:
The hit, and the goal that immediately followed, seemed to spark something in the Caps – and they were a different team after that, finding their cycle game and putting Montreal back on its heels. Andrew Mangiapane would give the Caps the 3-2 lead with a beauty of a shot from the slot, and a couple of empty-netters from Duhaime and Wilson put the game out of reach.
Using physicality in a smart way, crashing the net, getting offense from the bottom six…these are all things that weren’t there in Game 3 and to some extent were missing earlier in the series, as well (minus the physical stuff, because the Caps definitely had that down in Games 1 and 2).
Because they found that part of their game again, they now get the chance to end things Wednesday night back in DC – and move on to the second round for the first time since the 2018 Cup run.