Washington on brink of Cup breakthrough
WASHINGTON — Two days ago, Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov plopped down in his dressing room stall and smirked at the crowd of reporters around him. After an injury scare that caused him to miss most Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, Kuznetsov was seemingly no worse for wear — and luckily so.
“I think I’m born lucky,” Kuznetsov said with shrug and a smile.
Against a team from Las Vegas of all places, all of Capital One Arena looked lucky on Monday night, when the Capitals pulled within one win of a first Stanley Cup championship with a 6-2 win over the Golden Knights. Washington took a 3-1 series lead as Vegas hit three posts, perhaps retribution for all the bad bounces that have previously haunted this franchise. Of all the things that have separated this Capitals team from past renditions, fortune is a big one in a game where a frozen disc of vulcanized rubber can rattle around in so many different directions.
But then Washington capitalized on the breaks and poured it on, both good and lucky. Thanks to three primary assists from Kuznetsov, who is now just the fifth player since 1997 to record 30 points in the playoffs, the Capitals reeled off four straight goals to take control of the game and this finals series. With the game well in hand with less than four minutes left in it, fans Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby stops a shot in the second period. He has allowed just five goals on 91 shots in three straight wins. fearlessly chanted, “We want the Cup.”
Coach Barry Trotz has often spoke of the “hockey gods,” and they seemed to be smiling on his team from the start of the game. Just1:07 into the game, Vegas forward Erik Haula tipped a shot, but the puck caromed off the post. But that lucky break didn’t compare to the one Washington got 4:31 into the game, when on a Golden Knights power play, James Neal had a wide-open net to shoot into with goaltender Braden Holtby out of position. Neal inexplicably missed and hit the post, squandering an opportunity to lift Vegas to lead.
To that point, the Golden Knights had Game 5 Thursday, 8 p.m. TV: Chs. 11, 4 Radio: 106.7 FM, 1300 AM pressured the Capitals with some of their best chances in the past three games. But Washington took advantage of its fortune. Vegas defenseman Colin Miller stuck a leg out to blatantly trip center Lars Eller 9:22 into the game, and on the subsequent power play, Capitals winger T.J. Oshie scored on a rebound of Kuznetsov’s shot. Oshie then added two assists to his night.
Though play continued to be fairly even throughout the first frame, Washington made the scoreboard lopsided. Kuznetsov started to skate around the net, but then he dished the puck to Tom Wilson in the high slot. Wilson’s wrister extended the Capitals’ lead to two goals through 16:26. Kuznetsov now has points in 13 of his past 14 playoff games — he didn’t record a point in Game 2, when he missed the final two periods with an “upper-body” injury — and he’s the postseason’s leading scorer with 12 goals and18 assists, a leading candidate to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
Kuznetsov was on the ice for the Capitals’ third goal, too. Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen’s shot was blocked by Jonathan Marchessault in front of the net, but the puck bounced over to forward Devante Smith-Pelly, who punched it past goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury had a .947 save percentage entering this series, but the Capitals have now scored16 goals on him through four games.
It was a three-goal first period that was a display of everything that’s carried Washington to this point, one win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup. The power play has been dangerous, and the Capitals’ stars have found ways to produce at evenstrength, too. Washington has also gotten secondary scoring, goals from unheralded players like Smith-Pelly, who had just seven goals all season. He now has six playoff goals through 23 playoff games.
Less than nine minutes into the second period, the Golden Knights hit a third post of the game, Brayden McNabb’s wrist shot pinging away from Holtby. But when shots got through, he was sharp, recording 22 saves through two periods. In a change from past Washington playoff runs, the Capitals have the hot goaltender; Holtby has allowed just five goals on 91 shots in three straight wins.
Maybe you have to be good to be lucky.