Yes, THAT thing. The Washington Capitals slayed the dragon that is the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in overtime of Game Six. They will now move onto the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1998.
The Caps out-shot the Penguins 30 to 22 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 58 to 47.
- Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, oi, oi. Nathan freakin’ Walker became the first Australian to play in the NHL playoffs and then eventually became the first Australian to record a point in said playoffs after his primary assist on Alex Chiasson‘s goal.
- Walker and Travis Boyd became the Caps sixth and seventh rookies to suit up for a playoff game this postseason. That is the most in a single postseason in franchise history. Young blood showed up.
- Alex Ovechkin played his heart out in this series. A game winning goal here, a game winning assist there, the man was on a mission and Houston we have a mission success. Ovi ended Game Six with five shots on goal, 11 total shot attempts, seven hits, and the assist that gave Evgeny Kuznetsov wings.
- Speaking of Kuznetsov, the Caps seemingly have the secondary playoff scoring they’ve been screaming out for in past years from him. Kuzy now has seven goals and seven assists in 12 games this postseason. The only players remaining in the playoffs with more points than him are Ovechkin (15) and Filip Forsberg (15).
- Braden Holtby was phenomenal in this series. Holts stopped 151 of the Pens 164 shots and is currently tied for second in save percentage in the second round with his .921 mark with Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck who still has to play a Game Seven. Numbers aside though, the Caps don’t survive very key moments in this series without Holtby’s stellar play. The second period of Game Five is a great example of that.
- The Caps went 1-1-1 this regular season against their Conference Final opponent, the Tampa Bay Lighting. They split the pair of games against the Lighting at Capital One Arena and fell in overtime in the one game played at Amalie Arena.
- Hey, this feels good. Lets bask in this for a couple days.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com, Hockeystats.ca, NaturalStatTrick.com, and Corsica.hockey.
Full RMNB Coverage of Game Six
Headline Photo: Gregory Shamus
