Posted on 06/07/2018 8:11:33 PM PDT by EdnaMode
Across their 43 seasons, the Washington Capitals have dabbled in hapless hockey and exquisite hockey, boring hockey and effective hockey, but never had they played winning hockey through four playoff rounds, all the way to a grueling, glorious end.
It took a team hardened by those postseason lures but liberated from high expectations to complete a run as dazzling as it was cathartic, capping it on Thursday night by dispatching the upstart Vegas Golden Knights, 4-3, to win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
It was the Capitals’ fourth consecutive victory in the finals after a disorienting 6-4 loss in the opener that made little sense in the context of how they played immediately before and afterward. After twice shutting out the offensive powerhouse Tampa Bay Lightning to advance to its first Cup finals since 1998, Washington outscored the Golden Knights across these last four games.
The Capitals overwhelmed Vegas with the same elements that propelled them past Columbus, their nemesis Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay: stifling neutral-zone defense, superb goaltending by Braden Holtby and waves of prolific talent headlined by the superstar scorer Alex Ovechkin, who will no longer be labeled the best player never to win a Cup.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Washington won all four playoff series after being down in each.
Washington was also the first team to win all four playoff series on the ROAD.
Congratulations Caps for persevering, and congratulations to their FANS for hanging in there - they sure had to put up with a lot of awful seasons.
By far the most fun sport to watch, too. Spoils me from enjoying most other team sports. Basketball with all the fouling crap, times outs, buzzers constantly going off, ugh. Baseball, really?? And football takes toooooo loooooong.
Ice hockey is the best team sport ever.
nothing before Super Bowl I counts apparently.
waiting for the NFL to die an agonizing death here.
I watched every finals game. The best TEAM on the ice won. They worked the hardest and were the best. As far as a WH visit I didn’t know anyone was invited yet. I think turning down an invitation you haven’t gotten yet is a bit stupid. IMHO. Guess we’ll see. I remember the first Russians entering the NHL. I think the blame may belong to the Detroit Redwings. But their entry changed the sport. A lot of players had to learn to skate to catch somebody to fight.
A championship is a championship. They beat everyone else and were the last team standing. Tell the old eagles they weren’t champions.
And I still don’t care about it at all. :)
We used to have a pro Indoor Lacrosse team near Seattle. It has a similar tempo as hockey but with a lot more scoring. I really enjoyed going to watch the games with my son.
They moved up to Vancouver B.C. a couple of years ago. Lousy stadium up there, lousy fans, and they only one won game all season! (When they were here they made the playoffs all 4 years, and won it once.)
We’re supposed to get hockey in a few years - so that will be exciting. Especially with how well Las Vegas did!
I hope you get a team. You’ll learn to love the Vancouver Canuks and probably Calgary, Edmonton and the CA teams. Make for some great rivalries.
My home team, the Lions, will not win in my lifetime. The owners do not give a crud about winning. They have an extremely loyal fan base that will attend no matter what, so why spend the money to get the necessary players to make a winning team?
Yes, Seattle is next! So it’s theoretically in the running for where we might move to because the city needs an NHL team or we aren’t leaving. But Seattle seems as politically stupid as LA.
We might try lacrosse for a sport when my daughter is old enough. We know an older girl who loves playing.
will be going into my third season without watching a game
haven’t watched sports since 1998.
Yes that means all sports, not just the pros . . .
My daughters liked watching my son play lacrosse. So when the next year they signed up. They came back from their first practice. “It’s so lame - you can’t even hit anyone!”
The girl’s version is VERY different - but was still okay. You can’t even hit their stick with your stick to knock the ball loose! But - if you hold your stick in front of them and they don’t make a pass in 3 seconds (or similar time limit) - then they have to give the ball to you.
It seemed like a really tough sport to practice. Passing drills - more than half the time was chasing after a ball that they didn’t catch - and those balls roll far.
my latest turn-off is the NBA Baseball-playoffs only
Just turn them all off, you will be amazed how much time you’ll free up to do other things.
Thinking Harold Schnepps from Vancouver? Left shortly after Langway?
Eva’s ran into reality. Good to see Ovechkin hoist the cup. Good man and the player you hate unless he’s on your team. A true Dynamo.
Well then so have the Lions.
At 500-1, Vegas couldn’t be allowed to win.
OTOH, WAS overcame decades of choking. Congrats.
NBA Finals should be ending soon too.
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