Boston Bruins' Curtis Lazar (20), Patrice Bergeron (37), Brad Marchand (63) and Chris Wagner (14) celebrate the impending win as the clock runs down at the end of Game 4 on Friday night in Boston. (AP photo)

Three years since winning the Stanley Cup, the Washington Capitals find themselves on the brink of their third consecutive first-round playoff loss.

The Boston Bruins will eliminate the Capitals tonight with a win in Game 5 (7 p.m. EDT, NESN, USA Network). The series winner will face either the Pittsburgh Penguins or New York Islanders in the second round in the East Division.

Capitals coach Peter Laviolette was behind the bench for Philadelphia in 2010 when the Flyers erased a 3-0 series deficit to beat, yep, you guessed it, the Bruins.

“It’s got to be a real short-term plan — shift by shift, period by period and just one game,” Laviolette said. “That’s all you really talk about, all you really think about: making sure the guys are prepared, making sure they’re ready and then you go out and fight for it one at a time.”

Boston will be without defenseman Kevan Miller, who was injured by a high hit from Washington’s Dmitry Orlov in Game 4 Friday night. Coach Bruce Cassidy said Miller spent the night in the hospital and is feeling better but did not travel with the team, which has a few players still left from 2010 and who won the Cup in 2011.

“Nothing changes for us,” Cassidy said. “We’re trying to get better every game this series. We want to get to four first, obviously, and that’s what’s in front of us. We’ve got three. It takes four to win. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves here.”

TOP PERFORMERS: Alex Ovechkin leads the Capitals with 24 goals, adding 18 assists and recording 42 points. T.J. Oshie has five goals and two assists over the last 10 games for Washington.

Marchand has 69 total points while scoring 29 goals and totaling 40 assists for the Bruins. Taylor Hall has five goals and two assists over the last 10 games for Boston.

LAST 10 GAMES: Capitals: 5-3-2, averaging 2.5 goals , 4.2 assists, 5.3 penalties and 15.9 penalty minutes while giving up 2.6 goals per game with a .916 save percentage.

Bruins: 6-2-2, averaging 3.1 goals , 5.2 assists, 3.6 penalties and 8.3 penalty minutes while giving up 2.2 goals per game with a .914 save percentage.

INJURIES: Capitals: Michal Kempny: out (lower body).

Bruins: Ondrej Kase: day to day (upper body), Kevan Miller: day to day (undisclosed), Jeremy Lauzon: day to day (hand).