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Braden Holtby Gave His Stick Away to a Penguins Fan Battling Cancer

Wednesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Washington Capitals. The four games between the two long-time foes have been brutal. The series has featured big hits, head shots, and taunting between rival fans. But during the morning skate, Braden Holtby cut through all of that nonsense and showed why he’s a great human.

The Caps goaltender, who is likely to win this season’s Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie, gave his stick to Brian Azinheira, a 11-yr old Penguins fan battling cancer.

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By Ian Oland 7 years ago

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Gut Punch: Mike Weber’s Turnover Puts Caps on Brink of Elimination

Mike Weber chipped the puck away from the crease. It ended up on the stick of a Pittsburgh Penguin.

It’s not the first defensive turnover to lose a game this playoffs. We saw the same from Nate Schmidt and Dmitry Orlov. But in sudden death overtime against a hated foe to whom the Caps have lost 7 out of 8 playoff series, it burns.

Barry Trotz chose to give a sweater to Mike Weber over Nate Schmidt, a demonstrably better player. Whatever you think of Mike Weber’s play, the fact that he was playing in overtime was the true mistake.

The Caps, who won the President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best regular season team, are now one loss away from having just another disappointing season.

Let’s review the decisive play.

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By Ian Oland 7 years ago

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Penguins Beat Caps 3-2: Life is Suffering

The absences of Kris Letang and Olli Maata (and Eric Fehr) gave the Caps a major advantage in Game Four. And then Barry Trotz played Mike Weber instead of Nate Schmidt. You know how this ends. Let’s move onto discussing the game itself, shall we?

This game had a little bit of everything, including a tragic denouement. Jay Beagle got a certified puck luck goal, but Sidney Crosby got his first point (and temper tantrum) in the series. Overall, there wasn’t much suggesting that the Caps were taking advantage of the absences of the Pens’ two best defensemen.

The second period was a vomit fest. Spoiler alert: so was overtime. For a time, the Pens ~~eventually~~ mercifully faltered, and the Justin Williams Postseason Redemption Campaign continued. A fabulous shift by Williams and Andre Burakovsky led to John Carlson’s game-tying goal. As expected, the Caps stepped up their game for the third. A scoreless period resulted in overtime, to the chagrin of early risers everywhere.

Penguins beat the Caps 3-2 in OT. Penguins lead the series 3-1.

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By Margaret Stuart 7 years ago

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Sidney Crosby Leaves Game After Getting Slashed By Ovechkin, Has Temper Tantrum

Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby’s hand just had a semi-violent encounter. The Russian machine slashed Crosby in the arm while trying to forecheck. Crosby, injured on the play, would immediately go down the tunnel and into the locker room.

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By Ian Oland 7 years ago

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John Carlson Scores Fourth Goal of Playoffs, Almost Punches Ref Celebrating

John Carlson continues his hot postseason. The Caps defenseman scored his fourth goal of the postseason tying the game 2-2.

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By Ian Oland 7 years ago

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Watch Evgeni Malkin Check Daniel Winnik in the Head

In a series which has seemingly featured a head shot per game, Evgeni Malkin hit Daniel Winnik, surprise surprise, in the head. The play, which happened mid-way through the second period, occurred while the Caps were on the penalty kill.

Malkin was not penalized.

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By Ian Oland 7 years ago

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Jay Beagle Scores the Most Jay Beagle Goal Ever

Jay Beagle just scored his third goal of the postseason. After winning a race for a dump-in, Beagle took a choppy backhanded shot at the net and it randomly went in.

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By Ian Oland 7 years ago

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Round 2, Game 4 Live Blog: Caps at Pens

Photo: Justin K. Aller

This is about as must-win as a playoff game can get without it being an actual elimination game. Kris Letang is out suspended and Olli Maatta is still out concussed, so the Penguins defense is prime for getting scored on. If the Caps play another game like they did on Monday night, we’ll be coming out of Pittsburgh all tied up 2-2.

Barry Trotz is for some reason playing Mike Weber tonight. He’s going to be terrible and you and I are going to be mad. Let’s hope that we get scoring from all four lines and that Braden Holtby doesn’t stop being Braden Holtby.

Might die of stress. Liveblog below.

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By Chris Cerullo 7 years ago

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Caps at Penguins Pregame: Schmidtuation Critical

Welcome to Game Four. Let’s Do. This. It’s on. It’s so on.

The Caps need this game and, if they play much like they did on Monday night, they have a good chance of evening up the series. Just to make the challenge a little more difficult, Barry Trotz appears to have made a lineup decision that makes his team worse. More on that below.

8 PM start, unfortunately. NBCSN, even more unfortunately.

Team	Record	Possession	PDO	Power Play	Penalty Kill
Washington Capitals	56-18-8	52.0%	101.1	21.9% (5th)	85.2% (2nd)
Pittsburgh Penguins	48-26-8	53.0%	100.6	18.4% (16th)	84.4 % (5th)

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By Patrick Holden 7 years ago

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