The Carolina Hurricanes are now one win shy of advancing to the Eastern Conference Final after a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals in Game 4 Monday night at Lenovo Center.

The Canes scored early and often against the Caps and it seemed like every time Washington had a push, Carolina had a counter.

The Capitals had another strong start, pushing the pace to open the game for about the first eight minutes, but after Carolina weathered the storm, they got down to business.

Just halfway through the first period, Shayne Gostisbehere hit Brandon Duhaime with a little shimmy and a little shake at the offensive blueliner, buying himself some space to skate in and beat Logan Thompson.

It was the first first-period goal of the series.

Washington had a golden chance to get right back into the game with a pair of power plays, but the Canes' staunch kill stymied the Caps and absolutely sucked the life out of the visiting bench.

"The kill was huge tonight, obviously," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "It's all about timing too. Early in the game, we have six minutes of penalties in the first period and that just takes you right out of anything. To be able to come out of their with the lead was a big key. Our kill has been solid and obviously that was a big part of tonight."

Then at the start of the second period, the Hurricanes' top line struck as Sebastian Aho's shot went in and out of the glove of Thompson, hit the crossbar and fell to the side of the net, where Seth Jarvis was able to jam it home.

Carolina continued to apply the pressure to the Capitals and it looked like they'd be able to cruise to the finish line with Washington unable to muster much of anything, but the East's top team managed to find some life in the third period.

The Canes failed to clear the zone and immediately went into a panic, giving Washington plenty of time and space to make a play which Jakob Chychrun buried into an open net.

But the Hurricanes countered quickly with Taylor Hall getting sprung for a clear breakaway which he buried past Thompson.

"I got my head up and just tried to look where the goalie was," Hall said. "He plays somewhat deep in his net, so shooting is a pretty good option. If you deke, he's going to have a better chance at it, so I just picked my corner and it was a good shot."

The Capitals were handed a chance to get right back into the game again as they found themselves with a 5v3 power play with under 10 minutes to go in regulation, and Alex Ovechkin made his first mark of the series, blasting one top corner.

And yet again, the Canes countered, this time with Sean Walker calling his shot on a 3-on-1.

"You have to answer when teams are making their push," Walker said. "Obviously you don't want to give up those goals, especially late in the third, but I think as a whole, we kept our composure, didn't really panic and just stuck to our systems. Again, Hallsy made a great play on his goal and happy that I got mine too. Worked out well."

"Those were huge plays, obviously," Brind'Amour said. "You need those plays. That's the difference, right? Getting those individual efforts. That's really what those were. Good plays, but burying, finishing your chances at crucial times of the game. Both those goals were huge for us."

Andrei Svechnikov sealed the game less than a minute later with the empty-net dagger.

The Hurricanes now hold a 3-1 series lead as the series heads back to Washington, but Carolina isn't counting their eggs just yet.

"There's still another game and the hardest one to win is the one to close it out," Jarvis said. "We know they're experienced and that they've been through a lot of playoffs and a lot of runs, so we're expecting their best next game."

The final one is always the hardest to win and they know the Capitals will give it their all in Game 5 on Thursday.

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