Washington’s 2-1 loss to Minnesota was a low-key affair. Brett Connolly scored the Caps’ lone goal, his 21st of the season, in an otherwise light-on-highlights night.
But a stoppage in play in the third period gave us some levity. Helping call the game from between the benches, relentless troll and NBC Sports analyst Alan May did play-by-play for some rink maintenance.
Late in the game, the door to the Caps’ bench stopped working. Apparently, the handle was stuck. The NBC Sports Washington feed caught all the action.
Foreman @MayHockeyNBCS supervising an in-game rink repair while giving us the play-by-play 🛠️ pic.twitter.com/FVQblyWvhG
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) March 23, 2019
“I’m the foreman on this job”, May says. “My laborers aren’t working too hard right now. Got a linesman helping us out, Chandler Stephenson gave us some advice to try and fix the handle of the door.”
Craig Laughlin had a good idea. “You can just hold it, can’t you, for the rest of the game?”
May, known for his constructive criticism, had a better idea. “Guys,” he told the maintenance workers, “just put some tape on that.”
“Hockey tape works for everything!” Laughlin agreed.
“Saby (Radio analyst Ken Sabourin) carries it in his pocket over here,” May added.
The tape idea was not adopted. Repairs continued.
“There’s eight people involved now,” May reported.
Eventually, some handy-looking fellas got it working, and Chandler Stephenson joined the team on the bench.
And that, friends, was the most entertaining part of this game.
