So far early in these NHL playoffs, 45 times a team has skated onto the ice for the third period with a lead.
Nearly a third of those times that team lost the game.
The Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights lost their second-round series opener, becoming the 12th and 13th examples of that particular blown lead this postseason. The in overtime and the Golden Knights in regulation.
“We’ve been good at getting leads and building leads in past playoff series, but the past is the past and the time’s now,” Vegas center Jack Eichel said. “You learn from some stuff that’s happened. At the same time, we have to understand they’re not going to come in here and roll over, so our effort needs to be better.”
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl don’t know the meaning of “roll over.” Trailing 2-1, the Oilers outshot the Golden Knights 12-1 in the second period, then scored 57 seconds out of intermission 4-2.
Washington led 1-0 midway through the third, when a turnover by Aliaksei Protas off the right skate of teammate Alex Alexeyev put the puck right on Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s stick. Quick pass to Logan Stankoven, who beat Logan Thompson, and the score was tied. Carolina finished it off three minutes into OT.
Sure, it was a bad bounce, but the Capitals were 31-1-1 during the regular season when up after two periods.
“You have to trust yourself and play within good D-zone structure for when those bad moments do happen because inevitably they’re going to happen in a series,” center Nic Dowd said. ”Pucks are going to hit stanchions, they’re going hit toes of people’s skates — things like that are going to happen. But I trust that the five guys that are on the ice are always going to get the job done.”
That was a one-goal lead, and Washington was under siege most of Game 1. Vegas blew a two-goal advantage, ending a streak of winning 26 playoff games in a row when up by that margin or more.
“I don’t think it’s anything that concerns us,” said Reilly Smith, a member of the Knights’ who was reacquired ahead of the trade deadline in March. “There’s a lot that’s correctable. I think we need to play faster and more direct, and I think it starts there.”
Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals
When/Where to Watch: Game 2, Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT (ESPN)
Series: Hurricanes lead 1-0
What went wrong for the Capitals in the series-opening loss? Let coach Spencer Carbery count the ways.
“You can obviously go down 20 different alleys,” Carbery said.
Dowd referenced “94” twice as the number of shot attempts Carolina had in Game 1 compared with Washington’s 34. That explains just how much the ice was tilted toward Thompson.
“They’re going to funnel a ton of pucks to the net, and eventually something bad will happen,” Dowd said, referencing Jaccob Slavin’s overtime winner on a seemingly harmless shot from 65 feet out. “You give them enough opportunities, something weird is bound to happen, just like it did. But all in all I don’t think we played a very good game, so we’ll obviously be looking to get back to what we do best.”
The silver lining for the Caps is they were one goal from stealing a game they had no business winning. Games 3 and 4 are on the road in Raleigh, where the Hurricanes get to control matchups — making this as close to a must-win as a Game 2 can realistically be.
“We’re very, very short-term focused, so I don’t even look at it as a series at this point right now,” Carbery said. “Our focus is: ‘What do we need to adjust? What do we need to do tomorrow to have success on home ice and have our game look as close to possible what our game needs to look like this year and the level it has to be at — extremely high — to compete with a team like the Carolina Hurricanes?’”
Edmonton Oilers at Vegas Golden Knights
When/Where to Watch: Game 2, Thursday, 9:30 p.m. EDT (ESPN)
Series: Oilers lead 1-0
Trailing in a playoff series is nothing new for the Golden Knights, who have shown a fortitude throughout their eight-year history to overcome early losses.
“No, I don’t think we’re panicking,” Eichel said. “It’s a seven-game series. Obviously, we didn’t have our best (Tuesday) night and it cost us Game 1, but you learn from it and move on.”
The Golden Knights have won three consecutive series after losing the opener and are 4-2 in franchise history in such scenarios. They lost the first game to Winnipeg in both 2018 and 2023 on eventual trips to the Stanley Cup Final. In 2021, the Golden Knights dropped their first two games to Colorado before storming back to win in six.
Vegas also has a series comeback just this year. The Golden Knights took Game 1 in the first round against Minnesota, lost the next two to trail 2-1, then to move on.
Coach Bruce Cassidy anticipates a hungry opponent after the Oilers came one victory away from the Stanley Cup last season and not being satisfied with winning just one of the first two at Vegas.
“We can’t be relying on (past comeback success),” Cassidy said. “We’ve got to play better is what we’ve got to do.”
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AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
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