Photo credit: Scott Levy
We should have known better. We should have been more cynical. We should just have assumed this series was going to seven and enjoy Mother’s Day.
But nooooooo. We watched the Caps play an undisciplined-yet-solid game on enemy ice, giving up five power plays. No one’s saying the Caps are angels, but this is silly. The Rangers did nothing with their big chunk of man-advantage time, but one lucky bounce off Steve Oleksy’s arm made this a perfect afternoon for New York: a shutout without any penalties committed*.
Rangers beat Caps 1-0. Game seven tomorrow night.
Joe B suit of the night
*UPDATE: Stepan and Girardi were given roughing penalties for the scrum at the final buzzer. Carlson and Brouwer also got tagged for it. This is completely inconsequential, but putting an asterisk on NYR’s “perfect” game is the closest thing I have to joy right now.
Everyone’s been saying that the Caps have to stay out of the penalty box. It’s no less true now that it was then, but we haven’t really seen any effort to make that happen yet. We have seen an exemplary penalty kill unit, so there’s that at least.
Okay, game seven. We’re used to this by now, right?
Listen: no team has lost on home ice in this series. The Caps have outplayed the Rangers in probably five of these six games, and they can do it again. Dial down the passion, pull a couple power plays, and stay the course. No sweat.
Crash the net.
P.S. – Call your mom if you’re lucky enough to have one. Mine is great, and I’ll be bummed out that she won’t answer the phone tonight with a cheerful “happy hockey!”
See you guys tomorrow.
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