As unbelievable as it may seem, we are fast approaching the five-year anniversary of the Capitals’ Stanley Cup win. To celebrate, over the next two months we’re going to be taking you on a journey back in time to that magical run – reliving every game, five years to the day from when it was first played.
So strap in for the ups and downs, highs and lows, all leading up to a celebration of the greatest moment in franchise history.
Follow along with all of our “Five Years Ago Today…” recaps here.
The Series:
Eastern Conference Round 3 – Capitals (1) vs. Lightning (1); Caps lead 2-0
The Setting:
May 15, 2018 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC
Game in a Nutshell:
Two games down in the Eastern Conference Final, and the Caps had done what pretty much no one expected them to do: they won both. So they (and all of us) were flying high when the team returned home to play the first Eastern Conference Final to be held in the District in 20 years.
But you know how they say not to get too high with the highs…
For the first two games of this series, the Caps had held the upper hand when it came to physical play; in Game 3, it seemed the Bolts were interested in changing that dynamic, and got things started with this gross hit by Anton Stralman on Tom Wilson:
The play would result in a power play for the Caps, but no goals for the good guys – and after squandering their first power play of the game, the Caps soon found themselves shorthanded thanks to a very unlikely culprit:
Oopsies!
Braden Holtby did his best to kill off his infraction, making some good saves through the first half of the power play, but eventually the Bolts would cash in thanks to Steven Stamkos once again trying to be Alex Ovechkin and setting up shop in the left circle. It worked, unfortunately, but we all know it paled in comparison to the original.
And for just the fourth time in the postseason, the Caps trailed first – and would head into the locker room down by one, as well, the first time that had happened in this run.
The second period didn’t start out much better, as Lars Eller took the first of his three – THREE – minor penalties in this one less than two minutes into the frame by closing his hand on the puck. Which…is not allowed. (Perfect Human was having a less-than-perfect evening, that’s for sure.) The Lightning power play took care of business a little faster this time, with Nikita Kucherov pulling a reverse Ovechkin and making it 2-0 – just the second time in the playoffs that the Caps had trailed by more than a goal.
Sensing a theme here yet?
Things went from bad to worse, when less than two minutes after going up by two, the Lightning expanded their lead to three with whatever this play was – a great pass by Kucherov that seems to freeze everyone in red, including Holtby – leaving Victor Hedman with a wide-open net. You don’t want to give that opportunity to a bad player, let alone one of the league’s better defensemen.
Alas, they did, and the Caps found themselves trailing by three for the first time in the postseason.
A sliver of hope appeared in the form of Brett Connolly, who seemed to be having a good time going after the team that drafted him, and got the Caps back into the game – sort of – at around the halfway point of the second period. First, Matt Niskanen blocked a clearing attempt by the Bolts at the blue line. That sent the puck to Chandler Stephenson, who found Connolly in the left circle, who fired it past Vasilevskiy to cut the deficit to two.
Cue the epic celebration.
The celebration may have been epic, but it was short-lived, as a battle in front of the net resulted in a shot on net by Brayden Point that Braden Holtby…well, really should have had. Alas, ’twas a rare off night for many of our heroes in this one, and just like that it was 4-1.
That’s where the score would stay until late in the third, when, with Holtby on the bench for the extra attacker, Evgeny Kuznetsov put one past Vasilevskiy to bring the Caps within two again. That would be as close as they would get, though, and the Caps would suffer their first loss of the ECF – not for lack of trying by the Caps’ two best players to this point, by the way:
Nevertheless, just like that, we had a series. Hooray…
Condensed Game:
Defining Moment:
They Said It:
“We needed to make adjustments. We did that. We worked on it. The players went out there and did what we needed to do.” – Steven Stamkos
“We were chasing the game all along.” – Barry Trotz
“[Stamkos and Kucherov] are shooting well right now. You just try to get them the puck and take advantage of the shots that they get.” – J.T. Miller
“It’s unacceptable to let in that many [power-play] goals against our unit. It’s huge to get a kill, it’s a momentum boost, and we have to make sure that we don’t accept it, that we strive to be better, because it’s going to make the difference.” – Jay Beagle
“I can tell you that if it’s maybe the other way around, you better believe they’re looking at it, and you better believe there might be a little bit more attention on it.” – Tom Wilson on Stralman’s hit
Additional Reading:
- Bolts Bounce Back with 4-2 Win Over Caps in Game 3 [Caps]
- #CapsBolts Postgame Notebook: Lacking The Lead [Caps]
- Special teams spark Bolts first win in Eastern Conference Final [Bolts]
- Lightning power past Capitals in Game 3 for first win of Eastern Final [NHL]
- Lightning’s Steven Stamkos: Game 3 win a ‘step in the right direction’ [ESPN]
- After an uncharacteristic playoff performance, Braden Holtby takes stock — and moves on [WaPo]
- Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy settles in, helps Tampa Bay get on board [WaPo]
- Victor Hedman is ‘all over the ice’ in Lightning’s Game 3 win over Capitals [WaPo]
- Capitals focused on improving penalty kill for Game 4 against Lightning [NHL]
- It’s too early for the Caps to panic, but not too soon to stay out of penalty box [WaPo]
- Backstrom injury taking toll on Capitals in series against Lightning [NHL]
- Nicklas Backstrom may be nearing return from hand injury, even if it means no faceoffs [WaPo]
- After Tom Wilson hit, Anton Stralman won’t get suspension [WaPo]
- Unburdened by previous playoff baggage, Capitals’ young players help carry the load [WaPo]
- Tony Kornheiser on the Capitals: ‘They’re going to win the Stanley Cup’ [WaPo]
- Between cancer treatments at the Mayo Clinic, Caps fan flies home to attend Game 3 [WaPo]
Side note: I’m happy to report the site looks great on mobile Safari (iOS)! I was having trouble with it and posted about it here, so whatever tech wizards Becca had in the basement have done their job splendidly. Thank you!
YAY! Good, I’m glad 🙂
It’s strange to me how confident (as a fan) I felt during this series, even when they were down in individual games, or down in the series. Beating the Pens in the playoffs is a helluva drug – and the players felt that confidence too (obviously).