The Washington Capitals' storybook season is on the line, and on Thursday, they'll have to pull off a win against the high-flying Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 to stave off elimination.

The Washington Capitals are now on the brink of elimination after dropping Game 4 of their second-round playoff series to the Carolina Hurricanes. Despite being the best team in the Eastern Conference this past season,

The Capitals better start finishing their scoring chances the way they did during the regular season if they plan to push this series against the Hurricanes beyond Game 5 at Capital One Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

Through three games Carolina has dominated Washington in almost every phase of the game. Game 2 in Washington now looking more like a blip on the radar, rather than being indicative of success. With Game 4 taking place on Monday night it’s the last best chance for the Capitals to get this series back on track under the weight of expectation from the 2024-25 regular season,

It wasn't a good day to be a sports fan in the nation's capital with the Wizards, Nationals and Capitals all losing in hours.

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.

Ovechkin is the NHL’s all-time goal scorer and a superstar, but Tom Wilson has become Washington’s best player. Carolina has neutralized him during these playoffs, too.

The Carolina Hurricanes find themselves just one game away from the Eastern Conference Final after taking a 3-1 series lead against the Washington Capitals

One area that the Tampa Bay Lightning will likely aim to strengthen this summer is their forward group. They would benefit by adding more production in the bottom half of their lineup, and one player who would have the potential to give them that is Washington Capitals forward Andrew Mangiapane.