The odds are stacked against the New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers after falling behind 0-2 in their first-round series.
Of the 300 teams in NHL history that went down 0-2 in a best-of-seven series starting on the road, only 34 — 11.3% — came back to win. The likelihood increases significantly with a victory in Game 3.
"We win one game, and we have a series," Devils captain Nico Hischier told reporters in Newark on Thursday.
All three trailing teams return home Friday night, with New Jersey hosting the Carolina Hurricanes, Montreal hosting the Washington Capitals and Edmonton hosting the Los Angeles Kings.
The Canadiens look the closest to turning the tide after erasing a multigoal deficit in the third period of the opener to force overtime and playing the Eastern Conference's top seed tough in a Game 2 defeat that was perhaps one shot off the post or big save away from a different result.
“Entering the playoffs you never know how it’s going to go for a young team, with a lot of players playing their first games in playoffs,” Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson said in French before he and his teammates flew home. "We didn’t know if we could play with this team that had so much success this season, but we feel we showed them and ourselves in those first two games that we can we play them and beat them.”
Getting the last line change and the ability to control matchups off faceoffs should help all three teams close the gap.
Washington Capitals at Montreal Canadiens
When/Where to Watch: Game 3, Friday, 7 p.m. EDT (TNT)
Series: Capitals lead 2-0
Losing 3-1 in OT and 3-1 with the third goal being an empty-netter with 1.1 seconds left has the Canadiens thinking they're right there with Washington.
“I think our group feels that we can play with them," coach Martin St. Louis said. "We need more good stretches. And we had a lot of good minutes, but we need a little more.”
St. Louis might be able to get his top line of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky on the ice in offensive situations against the Capitals' Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome and Anthony Beauvillier, who can produce plenty but would be at a disadvantage trying to defend in their own zone. Coach Spencer Carbery has the unenviable task of responding.
“It’ll definitely be more challenging (but) there’s ways to do it,” Carbery said. “It just depends on what degree we want to go to and how hard we want to chase the matchup. ... I’m not sure what he’s going to want to do, and we’ll see where we go with it.”
Montreal thrived down the stretch thanks in large part to the five-man unit of Caufield, Suzuki, Slafkovsky and defensemen Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle. Expect them to see plenty of time together again with St. Louis dictating the matchups.
Carolina Hurricanes at New Jersey Devils
When/Where to Watch: Game 3, Friday, 8 p.m. EDT (TBS)
Series: Hurricanes lead 2-0
New Jersey was shorthanded for Game 2 with defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon out with injuries from the series opener. It's unclear if either will be available, though injured blue-liner Jonas Siegenthaler skated in practice Thursday in the latest sign of progress to play for the first time since February.
No matter who is in the lineup, the Devils need to solve what Carolina has done to them in the second period. The Hurricanes have outscored New Jersey 4-1 with a 33-17 shot advantage in the second.
“I think every game takes on its own life," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said, shrugging it off as a common thread.
Veteran forward Jordan Martinook, whose shorthanded goal started the Game 2 comeback, also can't pinpoint why the second period has been so dominant for the Canes.
"The second period last game, we knew the first wasn’t what we needed it to be," Martinook said. “So, we came in here and just kind of regrouped and came out with a lot of energy and kind of put it on them.”
Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers
When/Where to Watch: Game 3, Friday, 10 p.m. EDT (TNT)
Series: Kings lead 2-0
The Kings leave the friendly confines of Southern California and their apparent good-luck charm of the national anthem performed by a local harmonica chorus for northern Alberta, where the defending Western Conference-champion Oilers are sure to have a juiced-up crowd trying to will them back into the series.
“It's going to be a hard game,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said.
The Kings made it hard on themselves in Game 1, blowing a big lead before winning on Phillip Danault's goal in the final minute. They went up 3-0, let Edmonton back into Game 2 and then got a scoring barrage in the third period to cruise to a 6-2 victory.
And that was with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl playing together. Coach Kris Knoblauch could go back to that in Game 3 or split them up, and the Kings are ready to defend them either way.
“Our team’s doing a really good job,” Hiller said. "I don’t want to single out those two out in particular. I think our team’s doing a pretty good job defensively without the puck, and we’ll have to be all that and more the next game. We can’t be satisfied, but we’ve done a good job.”
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AP Sports Writer Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina, and AP freelance writer Dan Greenspan in Los Angles contributed.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
