Capitals Vs Hurricanes Playoff Game 1: Time, Livestream, Tickets

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Washington Capitals are looking to defend their 2018 Stanley Cup title, but first they'll have to get through the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Last year, the Capitals dropped the first two games at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round before winning four straight en route to their first ever Stanley Cup Championship. They'll hope for a smoother series against the Hurricanes this time around.

Here's everything you need to know about Game 1.

What: Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals, Eastern Conference First Round, Game 1

When: Thursday, April 11, 7:30 p.m. EST

Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.

TV: NBC Sports Washington

Radio: Capitals Radio Network (106.7 The Fan FM)

Online: Livestream via the NBC Sports app

Tickets: You can click here to find tickets. Enter the promo code "PatchTickets10" to get 10 percent off.

Projected Game 1 lineup:

Caps' projected game 1 lineup:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Hagelin-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Vrana-Eller-Connolly
Burakovsky-Dowd-Stephenson

Carlson-Jensen
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Djoos

Holtby
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 10, 2019

Game preview snippets:

Japers Rink: Of note, the John Carlson - Nick Jensen pair that we discussed the other day, and another new(ish) twist: Carl Hagelin and Jakub Vrana swapping spots (I’d also have Travis Boyd in there over Chandler Stephenson, but there are only so many nits we’re going to pick today). In the immediate aftermath of the Hagelin acquisition, we discussed the possibility of he and Evgeny Kuznetsov skating together in order to mitigate some of the latter’s defensive shortcomings, and that’s probably the driver here (along with the hope that the Caps’ depth advantage will result in the third line feasting on Carolina’s bottom-six).

Canes Country: The Hurricanes, who were on an 80-point pace on Dec. 31, reeled off a 30-12-2 record in calendar 2019 to surge (literally and figuratively) into the post season. Their 46 wins and 99 points is the second-best regular season record in franchise history, trailing only 2005-06 (52 wins, 112 points). They will begin their playoff journey against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, who claimed their fourth consecutive Metropolitan Division title, while besting the Canes in all four games (three in regulation and one in a shootout) during their regular season matchups.

Series preview: