Confident Caps seem poised to pull it off
The Washington Capitals own three wins in the Eastern Conference semifinal and feel as if they have performed well enough to have more.
Even when they trailed 3-1 in the series, the Capitals didn’t feel defeated.
“It feels like our overall game has been pretty good for a lot of the games,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. “Early in the series a few breakdowns hurt us and they capitalized on them.”
NHL history has taught us that a Game 7 has a randomness that cannot be predicted, but the Capitals have looked like they are taking charge of the Eastern Conference semifinal after a 5-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6. The decisive Game 7 will be Wednesday night in Washington.
Before the Penguins scored a pair of meaningless third-period goals, the Capitals had outscored Pittsburgh 8-0 going back to the third period of Game 5.
The Capitals dominated the Penguins so thoroughly that Pittsburgh only had nine shots on goal after 40 minutes. With nine minutes left in the second period, the Penguins only showed five shots on net.
“We didn’t get a lot of zone time,” Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said.
Through six games, the Capitals have out-shot Pittsburgh 200-134. They are averaging more than 10 shots per game more than the Penguins.
The Penguins couldn’t seem to move the puck out of their zone, and the rare times they escaped their zone, they had trouble entering Washington’s zone.
“We are having fun now,” Washington coach Barry Trotz said. “The fun part is the obstacle, and the obstacle is a good team in Pittsburgh.”
Trotz has been saying since early in the series that the Capitals liked how they were playing, and now they finally getting rewarded for their play.
The heavier Capitals seem to be wearing down the Penguins, who lost defenseman Kris Letang and goalie Matt Murray before the series. Defenseman Trevor Daley didn’t play Game 6.
“Our group has pretty good resolve and we’ve grown through our past,” Trotz said.
The Capitals haven’t been to the Eastern Conference finals in 19 years. They were knocked out of the playoffs by the Penguins last season.
“Since about Game 3, we’ve had a calmness about what we are doing,” Trotz said.
The Alex Ovechkin-led Capitals have been business-like, gritty and determined since falling behind 2-0 in the series.
“We weren’t getting the results we wanted and guys were squeezing the stick a little bit tighter,” Washington defenseman John Carlson said. “The offensive explosion we had in the third period of Game 5 was a confidence boost and then we played a very good game tonight.”
Now the question is simply whether the Capitals can carry momentum into Wednesday’s Game 7 back home at the Verizon Center.
“I’m not sure if I believe in momentum from game to game,” Niskanen said. “But there might be something to it. I think we are a little bit more confident now that we have capitalized on our scoring chances.”
The scary aspect for the Capitals is that they lost games in this series when they outplayed the Penguins. The Penguins’ strength is their quick-strike ability.
“We are not dictating the terms consistently enough out,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “The shot-count is an indication of that.”