Plus: A lot was said about how excited Dylan Strome was to finally get to a real postseason series, so it was awesome to see him pick up his first playoff goal as a Cap (his third overall) to tie the game on the power play.
Minus: Officiating is always uneven in the playoffs these days, and it’s gone both against the Caps and in their favor through these first two games (…perhaps a little more skewed against, in our completely unbiased opinion). But on this one, Wes McCauley and crew went full Angel Hernandez:
Because the officials decided to review this as a major for an illegal check to the head, the call could only either be a major or nothing. Now, YMMV on whether it was a check to the head or not (it was) or whether it should have been a major or not (it should have been)…but the refs clearly disagreed. Somehow.
Key Moment: Giving up a power-play goal, drawing a penalty, and then giving up a shorthanded goal on the resulting power play is a rough four and a half-minute stretch for the good guys.
Caps Player of the Game: Give this one to big Tom Wilson, who looked good in this one and picked up a goal.
Final Thoughts: Gutsy effort, and a much better all-around game tonight than Game 1. Bring it back to DC and try to do something good in front of the hometown fans.