Capitals hold off Lightning, will play Vegas for the Cup
Alex Ovechkin scored early and Andre Burakovsky added two second-period goals to help the Washington Capitals put a decade of playoff frustration behind them with a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final Wednesday night.
Braden Holtby stopped 29 shots for his second straight shutout and the Lightning, who led the NHL in goals during the regular season, failed to score in the last 159 minutes, 27 seconds — a stretch of nearly eight periods.
Ovechkin, who had never advanced beyond the second round, scored 1:02 into the winner-take-all showdown he had described as the “biggest game in my life.”
“I’m just happy for my boys, for the organization, for the fans, finally,” Ovechkin said. “I can’t wait to come back home and play at home in the Stanley Cup Final. It’s going to be nuts.”
Nicklas Backstrom had an empty-netter to complete the rout.
To earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, where they’ll play the Vegas Golden Knights starting Monday, the Capitals beat the top-seeded Lightning three times on the road, improving to 8-2 away from home this postseason.
It’s Washington’s first Cup Final appearance since 1998, and the first during Ovechkin’s 13-year career.
Two games after being a healthy scratch for Game 5, Burakovsky became the 17th player to score a goal for Washington in the playoffs this year —four shy of the NHL record — when he beat Andrei Vasilevskiy on a breakaway at 8:59 of the second period.
The winger, who played two games in the first round against Columbus before sitting out 10 straight with an upper-body injury, added a breakaway goal to make it 3-0 heading into the last period.
It was the 33rd time in league history that a Game 7 was required to determine a Stanley Cup finalist. Home teams are 21-12 in those games.
RANGERS HIRE B.U.’S QUINN >> The Rangers hired Boston University’s David Quinn as their new head coach.
Quinn replaces Alain Vigneault, who was fired hours after the Rangers missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010. An introductory news conference was scheduled for today.
The 51-year-old Quinn coached BU to four NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons, including a trip to the national title game in 2015. He spent the lockoutshortened 2013 NHL season as an assistant in Colorado.