“I think it’s a great stat when you talk about winning, because it shows you that players are ready to play, ready to compete, ready to battle and do whatever it takes to win”, Gallant said.
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Game 6, if necessary, would be back in Washington on Sunday night. It started off with him missing a wide-open net and hitting iron in a baffling sequence that proved to be costly for Vegas. An open look from Reilly Smith sailed wide.
Fleury stopped Kuznetsov’s initial shot, but the puck spilled to Oshie, who kicked it up to his stick at the lip of the crease before burying his eighth goal of the post-season. “We hit two posts, we had some good chances and we got nothing out of it”.
Washington earned a 3-1 victory in Game 3, and the only Golden Knights goal came early in the third period when Capitals goalie Braden Holtby made an uncharacteristic giveaway and Tomas Nosek fired the puck into the net. He is leading the playoffs in points and it looks like he will continue to play through the injury until the end of the Stanley Cup finals. Up against the cap at the trade deadline, they acquired lightly used defenseman Michal Kempny from Chicago. “We’ve got to be good defensively”.
“I’ve never been there”, Kuznetsov said after just the fourth four-assist game in Cup Final history. Washington certainly did that on Monday night.
Vegas got a power play early in the second, but were unable get past Holtby, and found iron twice more as the period wore on.
Teammates celebrate with Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie, center of the huddle, after his goal in the first period. The Capitals’ power play was once again lethal, going 3-for-5 on the night, while Vegas went 0-for-4.
Walker, who was announced as a scratch for game four, made history in the regular season when he became the first Australian to play in the National Hockey League.
He was especially great through the first 40 minutes and left the Knights completely frustrated when the output numbers suggested that they probably should’ve been winning.
The Golden Knights held an 11-10 edge in shots after the first period, but they faced a three-goal deficit. Still, they were completely blanked, largely because Holtby was extremely solid between the pipes. “But we have a good bunch of guys with a lot of character in the room”.
That meant there was an expectation the Knights, who stunned nearly everyone in hockey by winning the Pacific Division before breezing through the first three rounds of the playoffs, would be competitive from the start. Fleury also possesses a save percentage of 87.5% in this series which is absolutely abysmal. He had a.947 postseason mark heading into the series.
The Capitals seem to be getting enough bounces to make up for nine previous first- or second-round playoff exits in the Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom era, and plenty more disappointments in the previous decades, too.
Connolly added another power-play goal for Washington at 18:51.
Alex Ovechkin says that the Washington Capitals are playing with a lot of desperation, and that’s been a big reason for their recent success in the postseason.
Whether or not Oshie’s elbow caught Miller is up for debate. Then, they disappeared. Their chances in the series likely went with them.
Oshie was uninjured and McNabb was given a two-minute minor on the play.
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Is the difference that Vegas is a well-balanced skilled team, but Washington is a well-balanced skilled team that has the added element of stars such Ovechkin, Kuznetsov and Carlson? Upon learning that the subject of the parade was on the agenda, the Golden Knights requested that it be removed.
