The Capitals have no other choice, trailing the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Second Round heading into Game 5 of the best-of-7 series at Capital One Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS). After losing the past two games on the road, Washington returns home with its season on the brink of elimination.

The Carolina Hurricanes have a 3-1 lead on the Washington Capitals, and the Dallas Stars lead the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 in the other series.From NFL plays to college sports scores, all the top sports news you need to know every day.

Goaltender Frederik Andersen has given Canes a comfort level with his play in net that allowed them to be aggressive and take 3-1 series lead.

The NHL Playoffs continued on Wednesday with a pair of pivotal Game 5 matchups. The Florida Panthers made it a 3-2 series with a thrashing of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Edmonton Oilers will look to close out the series against the Las Vegas Golden Knights later on Wednesday night.

The Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes play Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs Monday in Carolina.

The Hurricanes beat the Capitals, 5-2, on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in their second-round playoff series.

We have a pair of Game 4s ahead of us in tonight's NHL playoff action. The Carolina Hurricanes can take a 3-1 series lead with a win against the Washington Capi

As much as the Hurricanes won Game 4, the Capitals lost it with a lack of execution at too many key times. Like in Game 3, they had chances in the first 10 minutes to seize control of the game. They couldn't finish.