Well it is never fun getting swept in a playoff series especially against the Rangers who lets face it were better than us in all facets of the series. I will stand on my ground that I said we were playing with house money even making the playoffs, so I am not as bummed as I would have been if we were the presidents trophy winners and roles were reversed.
So Sunday afternoon our Washington Capitals NHL season came to a close at the hands of the Broadway Blueshirts with a score of 4-2.
After a horrid turnover by Nick Jensen who basically served Kaapo Kakko the first goal of the game on a silver platter and a terrible way to lose the momentum almost instantly.
Then with around 5 minutes left remaining in the 1st period Martin Fehervary got the Caps on the board passed a star fished Igor Shesterkin who couldn’t stop the shot who was setup by a great pass from Protas. This was Martin’s second goal of the series tying the game 1-1.
Just when we thought we’d be going into the 2nd period at a tie game, Vincent Trocheck took advantage of the power-play chance and some great passing from his teammates to beat Lindgren who had zero chance on this goal. 2-1 bad guys going into intermission.
Then we got maybe the goal of the series and the first playoff goal of his career coming from Hendrix Lapierre. Hendrix drove in from center ice through 4 Ranger’s defenders and was able to weave through toss a backhand at Igor and then finish the rebound chance to tie the game at 2.
Then in the remaining minutes of the 3rd period Artemi Panarin who I said would be the x-factor in the series offensively got the go ahead goal and would eventually be the GWG.
Jack Roslovic put the fork in us with the empty netter to give the Rangers the 4-2 win and the 4-0 series win.
It was great to see Nick Jensen back on the ice after his scary hit against Tampa where he would be stretchered off the ice and the last thing we thought is that he would even play in this series. It is just unfortunate that he gave the Rangers the easy 1-0 lead to start the game.
Then we have Alex Ovechkin who couldn’t have finished the regular season hotter, but he was non existent this playoffs. So much so that he didn’t even record a single point this playoffs which has never happened in his historic career. (not ideal)
“It’s always tough to lose a series, especially we have pretty good chances,” Alex Ovechkin said postgame. “We just didn’t score.”
Say what you want, but no one thought we’d make the playoffs this season, especially since we sold this trade deadline. We also got our young guns some much needed playoff experience and yeah we got swept, but hopefully it gave these guys a bad taste in their mouths to motivate them for next season to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
I can’t end this season without giving Strome and Lindgren their much deserved flowers if it wasn’t for them there is ZERO chance we even sniff the wild card playoff spot.
Somethings to think of this offseason. We need to definitely sign Connor McMichael, and fill in the holes of Pacioretty who won’t come back and even Nicolas Aube-Kubel if we don’t resign him which is 50-50 in my opinion.
Also, did we see the last of TJ Oshie who could be up in the air based on how many injuries he had this season and he isn’t getting younger.
It is always great getting to write about my favorite hockey team each year and getting to fit that time in when I couldn’t be busier with my regular life stuff being a HS football & baseball coach, I will always make time for my Caps. So thank you guys again for reading my stuff and supporting our website The Morning Skate, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
See you guys next year or if any big news drops in the coming months.
The Morning Skate 