The Capitals jumped out to a 2-0 series lead on the road, and then lost their first game back in their own arena. The loss drops the Capitals record at home in the playoffs to 3-4.
Anyways, that stuff is mostly flukey and will even out - hockey teams have a massive home-ice advantage due to the ability to match lines.
And make no mistake: this series should be 3-0.
The Lightning were once again unable to solve the Capitals at 5v5 where Washington once again dominated the action. Overall, Caps controlled 53% of the play and in the second almost 60%.
Welcome to the series, Andre Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning managed two goals in the a second period in which they were being crushed, and scored two more on the power-play.
That's going to happen sometimes. Nothing you can do but come out, play your best and hope you get the right result.
Looking to go up 3-0 there was nothing the Capitals could have done differently last night - they played as good a game as they have all playoffs. It just didn't happen for them.
Ovechkin had nine shots and zero goals.
Kuznetsov had 12 shots (TWELVE!) and one PP goal.
They combined for 11 5v5 shots and no goals.
I would like to know how many times Ovechkin has had nine shots in a game and what the Capitals record is in those games. I'm guessing its crazy good.
If your two best players come out and dominate (Kuznetsov was a 70+% player last night FFS! and OV was 62%) and the only reason you're not now guaranteed a trip to Winnipeg (sorry Vegas, it ain't happening) is because of the other team's goalie, all you can do is shake it off and move on.
Keep in mind that it should be 3-0 Capitals with Nick Backstrom still to play a game. The Lightning were extremely lucky to not be all-but-eliminated last night and we move on and try again tomorrow.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»