The Capitals And The Lightning Are Headed To Game 7, And I'm Not Even Particularly Sure How5/22/2018 This is admittedly a strange thing to say about a team that authoritatively staved off elimination with an assertive performance on home ice, but - if I were a Capitals fan - the thing that would most concern me about this matchup going seven is that it's still going on in the first place. Goaltending and special teams are at the peak of their importance in the playoffs, so you can fair obliviously credit Andrei Vasilevskiy and Steven Stamkos with the penmanship responsible for re-writing this script. That said, it still feels weird that we've reached the "anything can happen" part of the journey when, as far as gameplay in concerned, the Capitals have encountered very few speed-bumps along the way. The Tampa Bay Lightning somewhat unbelievably snuck a three game winning streak in during a six game stretch of games in which they were noticeably the superior team for a number of periods that could pretty easily be tallied up on a single hand. As much as having a predisposition to the most painful of playoff exits, the fact that the Capitals undoubtedly deserve better heading into a game in which better doesn't necessarily determine the outcome has to be more frightening than killing the penalty that's sure to come when Tom Wilson starts frothing at the mouth. The truth is, you could probably flip a coin as to who is going to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals out of the Eastern Conference, as the allure of Game 7's is that they are the most fickle of beasts. The thing is, having a 50% chance of advancing when you've controlled approximately 80% of the series is the type of bullshit bookmaking that only the Washington Capitals would find themselves forced into investing in. Despite the game taken place in Tampa, I personally think should be the slight favorite to win, but - as has become the theme during this series - actually believing in them probably makes them more likely to lose. In that sense, they are the very definition of an organization that simply can't have nice things, like confidence, momentum, or the backing of the public. Ovechkin, Holtby, and Co. being tasked with overcoming an all-too-familiar foe whose smiling face is both symptomatic of the easiness with which he's currently going and completely unrelatable to anyone invested in the postseason success of the Washington Capitals would make for a fitting finale to the NHL playoffs. Unfortunately, as would the Washington Capitals serving as the exception to the general rule that the team who is playing the best always comes out on top over the course of a long series.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
January 2020
|