Capitals look to stay disciplined vs. Rangers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs

“You never want to go down 2-0, but as far as our focus and our feeling after losing Game 2, it was said right away in the locker room that we’re improving as the series goes on,” winger T.J. Oshie said Thursday. “That’s a good thing. That means that you’re gaining belief in yourselves and your team and your system. A seven-game series isn’t won or lost in the first two. It obviously helps when you go up two, but I like where our game is trending right now.”

Washington controlled play for long stretches of Game 2 and was arguably the better team at five-on-five. According to the statistics website Natural Stat Trick, the Capitals had 20 scoring chances at five-on-five to the Rangers’ 11 — and had a 7-3 edge in high-danger scoring chances.

“I feel like five-on-five, we do okay against them,” center Dylan Strome said earlier this week. “We do pretty good. Not sure the analytics or shots, but just feels like in the game, when we’re five-on-five, feels like it’s at least even. Obviously, they get two on the power play and one shorthanded. We get two on the power play. It’s a pretty even game besides those. We’ve got to find a way to maybe limit the penalties, maybe make some adjustments. But I still feel like, and I know we all feel like, we’re still in the series.”

But between 11 combined penalties and Washington’s six-on-five sequence at the end of the game, chasing an equalizer after pulling goaltender Charlie Lindgren for an extra attacker, only 40:46 of the 60-minute game was played at five-on-five. Capitals Coach Spencer Carbery said before the series that keeping the games at five-on-five was one of Washington’s top priorities.

“We have not done a good job of that,” Carbery said Thursday, “I can assure you of that.”

In Tuesday’s game, the Rangers scored twice on the power play, and the K’Andre Miller goal that proved to be the game-winner came shorthanded, after captain Alex Ovechkin turned the puck over amid a power play for Washington. The Capitals had the edge at five-on-five, but they couldn’t keep the game in that state long enough to take advantage of that momentum.

The two power-play goals Washington scored were signs of progress after an 0-of-4 performance on the power play in Game 1, but the shorthanded goal for the Rangers was a dagger, and losing the special teams battle cost the Capitals the game.

“There’s a lot of calls being made, so we know that we’re going to have to be good on the special teams,” winger Tom Wilson said. “They’re very good on the power play, so we have to find a way to stay out of the box.”

With different officiating crews in each game, the standard that was set in Games 1 and 2 — quick whistles and close attention paid to stick infractions — may not carry over as the series goes on. But the Capitals know that regardless of the standard the referees set, they have to be more disciplined to give themselves a chance.

Carbery pointed specifically to defenseman Martin Fehervary’s interference penalty against Alexis Lafrenière — a penalty that came just 20 seconds after Strome tied the game at two — as a moment that Washington can’t let happen again.

“Now we’re going shorthanded, and we just tied the game. We just grabbed momentum in the game. Those are instances and situations where we have to be smarter from a discipline standpoint,” Carbery said Thursday. “[Center Nic Dowd’s] penalty as well. I know what he’s doing. He’s trying to box out. His stick gets high. They don’t have a choice. They have to call a penalty there. We can do a better job of trying to keep this thing at five-on-five and help ourselves.”

The Capitals have been at their best this year in must-win situations, and while Game 3 isn’t technically a must-win, it’s a critical game for Washington, which hopes to change the momentum.

In the two losses to open the series, the blueprint for what it will take for the Capitals to win a game against the Rangers became clear: limit penalties, manage the momentum swings within the game and take advantage of the moments when they’re able to control play at five-on-five.

And they believe, despite the 2-0 deficit they’re facing, that if they do all of that, they’ll have a chance.

“It’s amazing the belief that we had in the room coming in after going down 2-0,” Oshie said. “I’ve been part of a lot of playoff teams. I’ve been down two plenty of times. That’s not the typical faith that you see going down two, so I like where our game is at.”