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Capitals Eliminated by Rangers in Overtime

By Peter Hassett

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May 13, 2015 10:53 pm

the-best

The Washington Capitals have been eliminated by the New York Rangers.

There was a moment around lunchtime when I had actually convinced myself game seven between the Capitals and Rangers might not be a low-scoring, one-goal game decided in overtime. Maybe you thought the same. If so, you’re a dummy too. This was always going to be tight. It was always going to be a goalie duel. This was always going to be excruciating. The only thing we didn’t know was that this was the end.

Alex Ovechkin scored in the first period, fighting to win a faceoff then driving to the net as Marcus Johansson dealt him the puck. A glut of penalties sucked up the second period, capped off by Kevin Hayes’ goal to knot the game heading into the third period. The Rangers pushed late, but some great work by the Caps forward depth and Braden Holtby held on for overtime, which is when Josh Groban said

and he was right. The Capitals were frenzied in OT, but a spat of icings gave the Rangers a chance to strike and strike they did. Derek Stepan ended it.

Rangers beat Caps 2-1 in overtime. That’s the end of the season.

  • Alex Ovechkin puts his money where other people put his mouth. Scoring a first-period goal on maximum effort, Ovechkin set the pace for the game– even if it that pace got reset in the second period and then again in the third. For his part, Ovechkin was mostly, surprisingly, contained during even strength (outshot 18 to 10 during regulation even-strength) and wasted during power plays.
  • Andre Burakovsky got high-sticked during a first-period power play. No call on the play. It should have been a double minor, as Staal’s stick drew blood.
burra-bleeds
  • Burra was fine though, and he was absolutely amazing during even strength. His line with Beagle and Brouwer were pesky little horseflies nipping at Lundqvist’s tanned hide all night. Part of that success was Jay Beagle‘s dogged determination on the faceoff dot (and Brouwer’s work in proximity).
  • Is it really the playoffs until someone rips his own tooth out? I’ve seen Belanger and MSL do it in the RMNB era, now Kevin Hayes. Grody.
  • Poor Mike Green had a rough second period. A trip and cross-check, neither particularly smart but the latter more egregious, put his team shorthanded twice, resulting in Kevin Hayes‘ goal. That’s enough for some people to launch a jeremiad against Green, but some perspicacity is needed. Green’s utility has been lessened since Trotz unwisely removed him from the first power-play unit for John Carlson. Carlson, meanwhile, surrendered a ridiculous shorthanded chance to Rick Nash (saved by Holtby) and lost Hayes on the power-play goal. It’s easy to find players at fault– almost too easy. Resist the urge to draw sweeping conclusions based on a couple of anecdotes.
  • Brooks Orpik, whom you’d expect to be an escape goat but you’d be wrong, was pretty solid again. He threw a huge hit on Dan Boyle, forcing the big blueshirt to leave the game. It was a clean hit (Boyle’s head was down), but also somehow the kind of hit we could do without in the NHL. You could tell from the telecast each time MSG replayed the hit– the crowd sounded ready to watch Dany get eaten by Drogon.

  • The Capitals were under siege at the end of regulation, but overtime brought a rejuvenated team. Again, it was the forward depth that churned in the offensive zone, harassing Lundqvist’s comely self like the patriarchy would unto a woman. It didn’t last.
  • Not a part of the overtime excitement: Tom Wilson, who suffered from Barry’s shortened bench.
  • The goaltending this series was just magnificent. Both Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist played well enough to deserve to advance; it’s just some perverse accident that there could be only one victor here. I generally hate low-scoring games, but with these guys it’s like haiku poetry. You get a lot out of a little. Bravo to both the backstops.
  • Thank you to all the lovely people who sent in #game7selfies. You can view them on our Twitter mentions page.

These were two excellent hockey teams. One team had to win, but we can’t pretend like either is dramatically better than the other. This seven-game series with razor-sharp margins is testament to that.

Lots more to come from RMNB, but let me leave you with this:

That was a damn good season: the best they’ve played in half a decade. We’ve seen nearly every player on the roster improve dramatically from the year before. We’ve seen more fun on and off the ice than at any time during this website’s existence. And we’ve seen some excellent freaking hockey.

It’s okay to be sad, Caps fans. I’m sad. Let’s just not stay that way for long.

Full RMNB Coverage of Game Seven

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