Carolina @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 28, 2019 ) Washington 3, Carolina 2

The Washington Capitals had a lengthy history of underacheiving in the postseason, a reputation they finally put to rest by claiming their first Stanley Cup championship last season. The Capitals are confident they can win back-to-back titles, a journey that starts with Thursday night's Eastern Conference first-round series opener versus the visiting Carolina Hurricanes.

Alex Ovechkin won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP in last year's postseason and followed that up by leading the league with 51 goals, becoming the third player in history to score 50 on eight occasions. "It's going to be different games than the regular year," Ovechkin said. "But, it's a good thing we have experience. What we did last year, we know exactly how we have to play and hopefully we'll play like that again." The Hurricanes lost all four meetings to Washington but they returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2008-09 with a stirring second-half run, going 31-12-2 since New Year's Eve to claim the top wild card. "Obviously, we're underdogs, we're playing against the defending Stanley Cup champions," said Carolina captain Justin Williams, a three-time Cup champion who spent two seasons with the Capitals from 2015-17. "Do we feel like we are (underdogs)? No, we're going to work our tails off and see how good we can be."

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, USA, Sportsnet360, TVAS

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (46-29-7): Carolina rode the unlikely goaltending duo of Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney -- “We wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for both of them,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said -- to end the playoff hiatus, but Mrazek is expected to get the nod in Game 1 after winning 11 of his last 13 starts. Leading scorer Sebastian Aho had three of his 30 goals and as many assists versus Washington in 2018-19 but he ended the season in a 14-game goal drought while Micheal Ferland did not have a tally in his last 17. Nino Niederreiter had 14 goals and 30 points in 36 games since he was acquired from Minnesota while Williams has a history of coming up big in the playoffs, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2014 with Los Angeles.

ABOUT THE CAPITALS (48-26-8): Ovechkin, who had four goals and a pair of assists versus Carolina this season, has scored 61 times in 121 postseason contests and was a force in the drive to the Stanley Cup last year with 15 goals and 27 points in 24 games. Six other players scored at least 20 goals for coach Todd Reirden, including Ovechkin linemates Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov, who had a playoff-best 32 points on 12 goals and 20 assists in last season's championship run. The Capitals feature a No. 2 line of Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, Jakub Vrana that combined for 71 goals while netminder Braden Holtby, who actually entered last year's playoffs on the bench, surrendered only nine goals in winning all four starts against the Hurricanes this season.

OVERTIME

1. Mrazek lost both starts against the Capitals this season, giving up five goals.

2. Kuznetsov collected five of his 51 assists in the four matchups versus Carolina.

3. Carolina lost back-to-back games twice since the All-Star break, including a home-and-home versus Washington on March 26 and 28.

PREDICTION: Capitals 3, Hurricanes 2