The Washington Capitals kept their hopes of a Stanley Cup
alive on Monday night, forcing a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference final
series with a 3-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena.
First Period
This was a hard, closely fought game from the first puck
drop. The teams traded momentum, the
Caps feeling it early and the Lightning grabbing the advantage late in the
period, but neither team could solve the other’s goaltender in the first 20
minutes. There was not a lot of work for
either netminder, the teams combining for only 14 shots in the opening
period. Washington had eight shots on
goal, Tampa Bay had six.
Second Period
The Caps killed off an early shorthanded situation, Jay
Beagle going off on a hooking call, and it was the only power play of the
period until late in the frame. With
under seven minutes to go in the period, Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburnwas
sent off on a hooking call. It was the
break the Caps needed. Nicklas Backstrom
circled out from the right wing corner along the wall and played catch with
Evgeny Kuznetsov at the goal line. When Backstrom
took the return pass from Kuznetsov, he slid down the wall to create a passing
lane, and when Alex Killorn reversed his stick to defend against a pass to the
top of the zone, Backstrom had his opening.
He slid a pass between Killorn and Ryan McDonagh to T.J. Oshie for a
one-timer that beat goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy on the glove side to make it 1-0,
15:12 into the period.
That would be how the teams went to their respective locker
rooms after 40 minutes, the Caps holding a decided 23-14 edge in shots on goal.
Third Period
One had a feeling that the team scoring the next goal would
win, and mid-way through the period, we had our answer. Hustle was the keyword on the scoring
play. It started (and keep this in mind)
with Devante Smith-Pelly chipping the puck out from below the goal line and out
of the Olympia corner in his own end through center ice. Chandler Stephenson chased Coburn down ice
and forced the linesman to wave off icing as the puck slowed at the Lightning
goal line. Stephenson hounded Coburn off
the puck behind the Lightning net, and Jay Beagle gathered it up in the corner
to Vasilevskiy’s left. Begale sent it
back in the direction from which it came, to Stephenson below the goal
line. Stephenson backhanded a pass out
to Smith-Pelly – the player who started the play 190 feet in the other
direction – and he snapped a shot under Vasilevskiy’s pad to make it 2-0 at the
10:02 mark of the period.
The Caps clamped down from there, including a critical
penalty kill just minutes after Smith-Pelly’s goal, and Oshie wrapped up the
scoring with an empty net goal with 50 seconds left to send the teams off to a
Game 7 on Wednesday night.
Other stuff…
-- The Caps extended an odd record of never having lost an
elimination game on home ice in games other than a Game 7. They are 6-0 in such games.
-- This was Braden Holtby’s 71st appearance this
season, regular season and playoffs.
This was his first shutout of the season.
-- This was T.J. Oshie’s second career multi-goal playoff
game on home ice with the Caps. His
other one was a hat trick (including the overtime game-winner) in a 4-3 win
over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the 2016 Eastern Conference
semifinal.
-- Nicklas Backstrom had a pair of assists, his 23rd
career multi-point playoff game. The
Caps are 15-8 in those games (seven of the eight losses were in overtime).
-- Devante Smith-Pelly recorded his eighth career playoff
goal. His teams have won seven times
when he recorded a goal.
-- Hits can be a bit arbitrary in their award, but the Caps
finished with a 39-19 edge in credited hits.
Most times that is a reflection of the other team dominating possession,
but in this one it seemed more a case of the Caps imposing their will on the
game.
-- Lars Eller has had a difficult series, and he did not
record a point in this game, but he was a symbol of the idea, don’t be a
liability, play your game. In 16 minutes
of ice time, he had three shots on goal, six shot attempts, three hits, and he
won 12 of 18 faceoffs. That was a solid
third line center performance.
-- Here is a number to keep in mind for Game 7: 16:55. That was Alex Ovechkin’s ice time. In only one other game in this postseason did
Ovechkin have less ice time, that in the Caps’ 6-3 Game 6 series-clinching win
against Columbus in the first round (16:08). He
might have a lot more in the tank.
-- Brooks Orpik isn’t going to put up big – or many –
offensive numbers, but his performance was “Orpikian” – 19:38 in ice time, a
fight, six hits, a blocked shot, and he finished plus-1.
-- The Caps were solid down the middle in this game, right
down to Jay Beagle, who finished with an assist, plus-2, two takeaways, two
blocked shots, and he won 13 of 16 draws.
A solid fourth-line center effort.
In the end…
The Caps did what they had to do – they gave themselves a
chance. They did it in Game 6 by dictating
pace and style for most of the game, and they got perhaps Braden Holtby’s best
game of the season. It was certainly his
biggest clutch performance. In a game like
this, in a situation like this, not everyone needs to be a star, but you can’t
be a liability out there. In that
respect, the Caps were a seamless unit of 18 skaters. There were few holes and few opportunities
for Tampa Bay to gather much in the way of momentum. Everyone played in their lane, which made for
as solid a “team” effort as the club displayed this season. Do it one more time, and the Caps will be
heading west to open the next round.