Another article about McPhee and MacLellan…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/capitals/george-mcphee-and-brian-maclellan-go-back-decades-now-their-teams-will-meet-in-the-stanley-cup-finals/2018/05/27/e3c7ee90-61fc-11e8-a768-ed043e33f1dc_story.html?utm_term=.37d76694d940
@JHS I think there’s a lot of interest in what Vegas has accomplished as an expansion team across the country. And there aren’t many players with more appeal beyond his team’s home city than Ovechkin.
Not sure if tonight’s game was really better played, or maybe I was just happier with the outcome. Either way, it’s gonna be a long, tough series. Saturday night is gonna be hopping in DC!
THAT SAVE! The camera shot of Ovi’s reaction was priceless. Plus Orpik scored his first goal since 2016!
I’m just glad, whoever wins this one, that the goalies seem to be back on top of things. Much, much more interesting that way.
And someone explain to me how Vegas gets 5 power plays to 2 for the Caps, and the Caps win? I mean, I’ll take it, but that’s got to sting a bit when the Knights sit down to watch the game film.
I’m not impressed with Marc-Andre Fleury. He may have been a top goalie 8 - 10 years ago, when he was a Stanley Cup winning goaltender, but right now he’s merely pedestrian. I think the Knights fed off weaker competition in the Western Conference. Player for playe, the Caps are more skilled.
By the way, was that a Golden Knights pre-game show, or dinner at Medieval Times?
Caps in 6, maybe even 5.
RockTheRed
ALLCAPS
Well, I guess if you’re not impressed by Fleury, you aren’t impressed by Holtby either, since Fleury has had a better regular season as well as playoff record this year. He played some of the best hockey of his career this season and that was without a team like the Penguins in front of him. 
I have to agree with @alwaysamom on this one. I almost posted to this thread before game 6 of the last series that Holtby never comes up big in the playoffs. Consecutive shutouts shut my mouth, and he literally saved the game last night with 2 minutes left. That being said, if I had to choose between Fleury and Holtby to completely shut down the other team, I’d pick Fleury - and it’s not really even close.
Ten years ago, I would have taken Fleury. This week, I’d rather have Holtby.
The more I watch replays of The Save (and comparing it to the uncannily similar save by Varlamov on Crosby back in the day) the thing that amazes me isn’t that Holtby got his stick in front of it.
It’s that he got his stick on it and there was no rebound.
At all.
I mean, how in the world do you have fast-moving vulcanized rubber hit foam-injected wood and not bounce back out somewhere? I’m still stunned by what looks, even—maybe especially—in slo-mo, like he completely purposefully angled his stick to prevent the rebound.
I have never seen a hockey game before, but this match up might make me a fan. I don’t really care who wins, but it has been quite fun to watch!
Except for the “own goal” by Holtby, Game 3 would have been a shutout. If the Caps keep playing like they are, I don’t see how they can lose.
ALLCAPS
RockTheRed
Holtby definitely should be credited with the assist on that one :). GO CAPS #ALL CAPS!
The Caps played an excellent defensive game. With the number of shot attempts that Vegas made, and the number of blocked shots by the Caps, it was amazing. They’ll likely have to continue that type of play going forward.
Also, faceoff percentage. Washington won 2/3rds of the faceoffs in that game.
It’s possible to overcome that, sure, but starting out that many sequences without the puck? Not helpful for Vegas’s cause.
(And seriously, Jay Beagle may be the best faceoff guy the Caps have had since Doug Jarvis.)
Just noticed this thread -
We live a few miles outside of DC so we are #ALLCAPS. I have only been a hockey fan for a 4 or 5 years, but really, two consecutive seasons of winning the Presidents trophy followed by a 2nd round loss to the Pens in the playoffs encapsulates the Caps playoff misery pretty well. Even newer fans can feel like they have suffered!
Last night was great apart from Holtby’s brain fart. Makes me a little sad to see Nate Schmidt cross checking Wilson while he’s face down on the ice - still wish we could have kept him and let Mojo go since we gave him up for practically nothing anyway.
I love Jay Beagle. They’d better re-sign him in the off-season.
I’m hoping for Caps in six and winning the cup on home ice.
To me, it looked like Holtby whiffed when he hit the puck to clear it back to center ice. The puck bounced funny, like he didn’t hit it cleanly. Glad it only cost a goal that didn’t mean anything.
Best sign yesterday: UNLEASH ON FLEURY!
Best tweet after Oshie and NIskanen rode the Metro to the game: #ROCKTHEREDLINE
I’m going downtown tomorrow night. DH is out of town, and I am skipping an important meeting!
Have fun tomorrow, @CountingDown !
I missed the first period when an electrical storm knocked out our internet and TV for an hour. From what I saw it was a great game for the Caps - other than that one awful, unnecessary play by Holtby. A couple more terrific efforts like that and the Cup might be theirs.
Great result for the Caps tonight, even though the Knights hit a bunch of posts and missed open nets early. One more win on Thursday would be really sweet - looking forward to it.
Lots of dirty play tonight, especially in the third period and mostly by Vegas. Say what you want about Wilson, but Reaves looks like a goon out there.