Five Years Ago Today…Round 3, Game 6

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); Lightning lead 3-2

The Setting:

May 21, 2018 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC

Game in a Nutshell:

The Caps arrived home after Game 5 faced with something they had not yet had to deal with this postseason: potential elimination. After two disappointing games at home, and a rough start that cost them in Game 5, they trailed in the Eastern Conference Final 3-2.

In order to save their postseason…it was time for some heroes.

The first period saw the two teams exchange a couple of chances, but both Andrei Vasilevskiy and Braden Holtby stood tall, the former stopping eight Caps’ shots (including four by the Caps’ top trio of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson, who came out firing) while the latter turned aside six from the Bolts. All in all, a pretty quiet period of chess.

Well, mostly quiet, until this fight (?) between Brooks Orpik and JT Miller:

Honestly the only good part of this fight (because fights are stupid, especially in the playoffs) is that it caused a stoppage in play and short-circuited a potential chance by Brayden Point. Also, knowing what we now know about Miller being kind of a tool…good on you, Batya.

Anyway, back to the hockey.

The first period ended with no goals (despite a hecking good shift in the final period by that potent 8-92-43 line), and we were locked in at 0-0 after one.

How do you feel about that, Tom Wilson?

(Yeah, five years later, I still look at that and think “……oh my”. I’m not ashamed.)

SO. The second period continued much like the first, with both goalies coming up with timely saves. The Caps, however, also continued to do what they’d done through the first 20 minutes, and that was play a heavy, physical game – the kind of game that the Lightning just weren’t built to play, and it was starting to show. In the first period alone, the Caps outhit the Lightning 16-9, and that trend carried over into the second period, led – of course – by Alex Ovechkin.

He wasn’t alone, though. Others joined in:

The Caps took the ice for the five-on-four. And a little over halfway through the minor penalty, the boys came through:

That goal summed up basically everything that made the Caps’ power play special on this run (aside from Ovechkin goals from his office) – put succinctly by Pierre McGuire (no, really) in the moment: “It’s the magic of Nicklas Backstrom and the release of Oshie.” Damn right, sir. 1-0 Caps.

So the Caps were in the lead with the game’s first goal, a crucial first step toward forcing a Game 7. But it was very close to becoming a 1-1 game as the period came to an end, when Tampa’s Mikhail Sergachev pinged this shot off the crossbar with a mere seven seconds remaining:

But as had been the case so far in this run, the hockey gods…they were a-smiling, and the Caps maintained their slim lead heading into the third.

Up to this point, the game had been fairly even, with the Caps holding the advantage in shots and chances and really playing like a desperate team. In the third, however, the Bolts upped the ante – and it was time for the Braden Holtby Show to begin. The Lightning put five shots on net before the Caps even got their first of the period, eight minutes into the frame, and all of them were turned aside by Holtbeast, including a sparkly glove save on Ondrej Palat.

While Holtby did his job at one end of the rink, the setting was ripe for a little insurance at the other end. Perhaps a goal from one of the Caps’ third or fourth lines, how does that sound?

Chandler Stephenson seemed to think it sounded just great, as he chased down a puck into the Tampa end, beating out a potential icing. Jay Beagle also agreed, collecting the pass from Stephenson on the side wall, then sending it back behind the net to Stephenson, who sent an absolutely beautiful pass out front to none other than Devante Smith-Pelly. And DSP? Well, he found the back of the net.

Now these were two offensively potent teams going head to head – and on any other night, in any other game between these two teams, perhaps a two-goal lead wasn’t going to be enough. On this night, however, something about the way the team was playing and Holtby was turning aside everything, especially against a renewed Tampa attack in the third…that DSP goal felt like the nail in the coffin for Tampa on this lovely May evening.

(And yes, granted, this is said with years of hindsight and without the irrational but very real fear of jinxing anything.)

That said, nothing is over until it’s over and the Caps still had ten minutes to play. They didn’t sit back, putting six more shots on Vasilevskiy compared to the three Tampa managed on Holtby (including on a power play, with Nicklas Backstrom sitting in the box for a trip shortly after the DSP goal) – but it still didn’t quite feel like it was over…until this happened:

That’s what we in the biz call sealing the deal, kids. All that remained in question was the business in the Caps’ net, and with one final save off a last-second shot, Braden Holtby – who had no shutouts all season long, and who had been on the bench to start this playoff run – finished the night with a 24-save shutout.

We were headed to Game 7 – and the hometown crowd, as they were all night long, was ready to celebrate.

If you were watching on TV, you felt it in your living room for sure. If you were lucky enough to be in the building? There was nothing like it. Just an incredible night at 7th and F Street. We’ll let John Walton (and the explosive Capital One Arena crowd) wrap this one up:

What a damn game. What a damn night. On to Tampa.

Condensed Game:

Defining Moment:

They Said It:

“Was it a fairly even game? There’s no question. But what were the hits? 39-19? Somebody was engaged and somebody wasn’t. That’s a choice.” – Jon Cooper

“When [Ovechkin]’s skating like that and trying to hit somebody, I’m pretty sure it’s not really comfortable.” – Evgeny Kuznetsov

“That’s one area where we have an edge, is our size and physical play. Over the course of a seven-game series, it’s something we talk about. Take those opportunities. Don’t get out of position. Try to wear them down when we can.” – Brooks Orpik

Additional Reading:

• Caps Blank Bolts 3-0, Forcing Game 7 [Caps]
• #CapsBolts Postgame Notebook: Work To Do [Caps]
• A physical Capitals team runs over Lightning and forces decisive Game 7 [WaPo]
• Capitals stay alive with Game 6 win against Lightning [NHL]
• AUDIO: Highlights of Capitals-Lightning Game 6 East Final [WTOP]
• Lightning ‘no good’ in Game 6 loss to Capitals [NHL]
• Capitals get physical in Game 6 against Lightning to stay alive [NHL]
• Signed for moments just like these, T.J. Oshie cashes in to keep Capitals alive [WaPo]
• Holtby’s confident play, big saves help Capitals win Game 6 [NHL]
• Lightning lose special-teams battle, fail to end series in Game 6 [NHL]
• Was Caps’ win the greatest in Capital One Arena history? It looked and sounded like it. [WaPo]
• How the Washington Capitals’ infusion of youth helped them forget old pain [ESPN]
• Game 7 puts Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin in familiar role: Squarely in the spotlight [WaPo]