[AP Recap – Game Summary – Event Summary – WashingtonCaps.com Postgame]
Big-time playoff games spawn some pretty unlikely heroes, a category you could probably put David Steckel in. But even despite the lanky center’s crucial deflection, the game’s biggest story was arguably the performances by a couple of guys who many fans had all but given up on: Viktor Kolzov and Tomas Fleischmann.
Kozlov has been one of the NHL’s most notorious annual playoff disappointments, a winger with top six skill who entered this postseason with six assists (and zero goals) in 21 career playoff games. Fleischmann hasn’t been around long enough to garner the same kind of reputation but his demotions both this postseason and last year, coupled with his slow second half of the season and lack of playoff production (even with last night’s goal, Fleischmann still only has three goals and no assists in 15 career playoff games), seemed to suggest Flash might be headed down the same road. None of that really matters right now though, and for one more night, at least, we, as fans, are willing to ignore their shortcomings and are happy to revel in their successes.
Some additional thoughts on last night’s game:
Win one game. Just one more time.