Wilson 'leads the charge' for Capitals in Game 2 win against Hurricanes

WASHINGTON -- Tom Wilson vowed that the Washington Capitals would play better in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. Then he did his best to make sure they did.

The 31-year-old right wing did a little bit of everything, from delivering big hits, making two potentially goal-saving shot blocks, assisting on the winning goal and scoring the clinching empty-netter in Washington’s 3-1 victory at Capital One Arena that evened the best-of-7 series.

“Obviously, he set the tone,” Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin said. “He’s our leader. He plays smart. He plays physical. He scored a big goal. And in the playoffs, you have to play like that.”

With Wilson leading the way, the Capitals rebounded from a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 1 on Tuesday and will head to Carolina for Game 3 on Saturday (6 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS) feeling much better about themselves.

“It’s not a good feeling when you go home after Game 1 and you weren’t happy with the outcome, you weren’t happy with your effort,” Wilson said. “And with the group that we have, the ability to look at each other and demand more and know that the guy next to you is going to show up and give it is just a really cool thing. It’s a great thing to have as a team and I think for the most part we did a pretty good job with that.

“We knew we had to give more and be better.”

The Capitals knew the final score and the 1-0 lead they held after two periods in Game 1 were deceiving because they were thoroughly outplayed for long stretches. The Hurricanes outshot them 33-14 and had a 94-34 advantage in shot attempts, eventually wearing them down and winning on Jaccob Slavin’s goal 3:06 into overtime.

Washington was honest with itself about that after the game Tuesday, and Wilson made clear the urgency of the situation Thursday morning by declaring, “Tonight needs to be the best game that we’ve played of the playoffs.”

Washington responded with a much better effort, being the aggressors more, particularly in the second period when it outshot Carolina 9-4 and took a 1-0 lead on Connor McMichael’s breakaway goal at 2:16. Wilson set up John Carlson’s power-play goal that made it 2-0 at 1:54 of the third period with a slick pass across to the defenseman in the left circle for a shot inside the left post.

That goal proved important when Shayne Gostisbehere scored on the power play from the right circle to bring the Hurricanes within 2-1 at 9:26. But with Logan Thompson stopping 16 of the 17 shots he faced during the third period, the Capitals were able to hang on until Wilson’s empty-net goal with 1:00 left.

It was far from perfect -- the Hurricanes still finished the game with a 28-21 edge in shots on goal and 86-50 advantage in shot attempts -- but it was much closer to the blueprint the Capitals will need to follow to win this series.

"It was much better. There's no doubt about that,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “We felt that. You guys saw that. Way better. I still think we have another level to get to. We're going to need to get to that level, especially going down into their building. I do think that. I think the way that we played, some adjustments we made, I feel like we're getting there. Guys can feel it.

“We're getting a little more confident. We feel like we can punch back.”

Washington helped Thompson by blocking 33 Carolina shot attempts. None were bigger than the two blocks Wilson was credited with, the first a headfirst dive to deflect away Jordan Staal’s shot from in front with his leg to keep the score 0-0 with 1:06 left in the first period. He then made a similar block on Dmitry Orlov’s shot from the high slot with six seconds left in the second to preserve the Capitals’ 1-0 lead.

“I’m kind of just trying to take away two options with one play and a lot of the time just getting your body down on the ice and taking away as much space as possible is the best way and you’ve just got to hope that the puck hits you,” Wilson said. “For the most part tonight, we were able to get in the shot lanes and help out [Thompson] when we could.”

Wilson, an alternate captain, is second on the Capitals with seven points (three goals, four assists) in seven games during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but some of his biggest plays have not been goals or assists. In Game 4 of the first round against the Montreal Canadiens, it was a big hit on defenseman Alexandre Carrier during the third period that turned the momentum, sparking the Capitals to rally from a 2-1 deficit with four unanswered goals for a 5-2 victory.

Then, Wilson backed up his words with a tour de force performance Thursday in which he was as impactful with his blocked shots as he was with his goal and assist.

“He leads the charge,” Carbery said. “It's easy for some people to get uncomfortable with losing and, you know, they turn the page to the next day. It's a whole other thing to do something about it in your preparation and then go out and lead the charge. … He was right there tonight in dragging guys into the fight.”