Caps blank Lightning to hit Stanley Cup Final
ALEX Ovechkin put Washington ahead to stay after only 62 seconds and the Capitals advanced to their first NHL Stanley Cup Final in 20 years by defeating Tampa Bay 4-0 on Wednesday.
Andre Burakovsky scored two unassisted second-period goals and Braden Holtby made 29 saves for his second consecutive shutout as the Capitals ousted the host Lightning 4-3 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final.
Capitals captain Ovechkin, a seventime goals champion, will play for the crown for the first time in his 13-season NHL career. The 32-year-old Russian winger had never reached the playoff final four until this month.
“We’re really happy, but we’re not finished, not done yet,” Ovechkin said. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. We understand what it takes to be in the final.”
Washington, seeking a first-ever Cup, will face a first-year expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights, on Monday in Game 1 of the best-of-seven championship series at Las Vegas, Nevada.
“We’re pretty excited about the next step,” Washington’s Tom Wilson said. “It’s a crazy feeling. It hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s going to be a wild ride in Vegas. It’s going to be a historic one. We’re looking forward to a heck of a show.”
Ovechkin, whose 607 regular-season goals are the most of any active player, is a three-time world champion and three-time Olympian for Russia, but missed his compatriots’ Olympic gold run at Pyeongchang in February as the NHL did not shut down for players to compete.
“He has just been a beast,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said of Ovechkin. “He has just taken it to the next level. He wants to get us to the next level.”
The Capitals reached their only prior final in 1998, when they were swept by Detroit.
“Oh my God, it’s unbelievable!” Ovechkin said. “I can’t explain my emotions. I’m just happy for my boys, the organsation, the fans. I can’t wait to come back home and play in the Stanley Cup Final. It’s going to be nuts up there.”
“He wasn’t going to be denied,” Wilson said of Ovechkin. “He put everything into it. He’s a phenomenal teammate. He has battled for this for a long time. So let’s keep it going.”
No Washington team has won a major sports title since the NFL Redskins won the 1992 Super Bowl.
The Capitals’ fairytale playoff run saw them rally after two home losses to oust Columbus in round one and beat archrivals Pittsburgh, which ousted Washington the past two years, in round two. Against Tampa Bay, the Capitals won twice in Florida, then dropped three in a row before salvaging the series.