Win or go home ... for Vegas it was this race 5, the last beach to keep alive the dream of a city that in a very short time was able to get excited about hockey and make the T-Mobile Arena an inhospitable place for anyone. Already in the pre-game you could feel the tension, apart from the usual medieval spectacle on the ice the players of both formations did everything to get into the heads of their opponents, on all Ovie who half-ice went blatantly to look for Fleury physically to make him nervous, provoking a prompt reaction of the number 29. The atmosphere of tension lasted for most of the first period, making the match intense in the middle of the ice but not spectacular and without scoring opportunities, the first came from the stick of the number 8 in white that from the slot hit the farthest pole, shaking the whole building of the sport. Washington continued to press on the accelerator pedal, starting to ignite the game from the point of view of goal, so the guests managed to gain a power play where Carlson and Ovechkin had a couple of good chances but Fleury got overcome by denying them the goal. The only jolt of the hosts was a shot by Nosek rejected by Holtby with the grating of the mask, their sterility offensive in my opinion due to considerable pressure continued in the second period until the time when Washington with 13:36 on the time trial he found the advantage with Vrana on the counterattack. With nothing more to lose and elimination at the door the Knights woke up drawing the match almost immediately with a goal of "heel" of Schmidt that deflecting a cross-shot of Marchessault managed to beat Holtby perhaps thanks to a touch of Niskanen. Draw lasted less than a minute since the Capitals have immediately capitalized the power play at their disposal thanks to a very good circulation of the disk that has unmarked Ovechkin from the slot has started a missile that has not left escape to Fleury. The goal escalation did not stop and after a few minutes the hosts grabbed the parity at two thanks to a goal by Perron that thanks to a deviation inside the goalkeeper managed to put the disk between the posts. With the intensity and the show a thousand Vegas managed to find the first advantage of his game 28 seconds from the end of the second period with a power play goal by Reilly Smith spoiled by a bloody disk lost by Smith-Pelly inside the his defensive zone. Washington since the beginning of the third period has loaded head down to look for a draw and after a couple of good chances we thought Smith-Pelly to resume checking with the skate a disk launched in the melee by Orpik and then beating a Fleury that does not expecting a technical gesture like that did not have time to react and put the left pad to protect his door. Loaded a thousand for the goal of the draw guests did not stop and after a couple of minutes Connolly has left a shot that thanks to the traffic in front of Fleury became insidious and passed between the legs of the number 29 leaving a ready Lars Eller free to score that goal that will go down in history as the goal that gave the Capitals their first Stanley Cup. With 7:23 on the clock and a heavy sword of damocles on the head Vegas did not in any way to become dangerous parts Holtby, even with the extra skater and when the time on the timer is exhausted Ovechkin framed on the bench incredulous almost to have broken the curse from the bench has flung himself to embrace his companions letting go a liberating scream that in the capital will not forget for a long time.
Despite everything Vegas has won, however, touching a 500-year-old date at the beginning of the season, not only have won the Western Conference deservedly but have made hockey fall in love with a desert city to something that even the most optimistic of fans could hope for. This team did not lack the talent to win the ring but in my opinion the mental stability and the pressure have made it go to the capital, because having followed for all the playoffs what in effect remains an epic ride it had seemed in the previous series to see a more peaceful and safe Vegas of its means, able to get out of all the situation, something that also thanks to Washington has failed to do in this series. Today more than ever I feel compelled to applaud those who have lost and not for the usual sportiness but because they gave a lesson of sight showing that despite their old team did not want them or otherwise did not consider them so important they managed to make a group and to beat them all but one. Chapeau to the Knights!
It was since 1974 that they waited for her and they saw theothers raise it, I'm talking about the Washington Capitals that in one night they did not take off a monkey from the shoulder but king kong! What about their captain and leader? 600 and more goals without ever winning it and the title of eternal loser that started to be felt considering the advancing age, everything was washed away in race 5, not only won it but did it as a protagonist, playing like a grinder and sawing as the lethal sniper that is, may like it or not, but from today the arguments against him can only be characteristic because he has shown on the ice to be a champion and this never nobody can take it away from him. The victory was a team victory as always in hockey and the goals of Vrana, Smith-Pelly and Eller are the proof, these Capitals have won thanks to a really well assembled and trained team sweating this final since the beginning of the playoffs , eliminating the likes of the Penguins and Lightning. They were not the strongest on paper but they were on the ice and now Lord Stanley has finally found a home in the capital!
Despite everything Vegas has won, however, touching a 500-year-old date at the beginning of the season, not only have won the Western Conference deservedly but have made hockey fall in love with a desert city to something that even the most optimistic of fans could hope for. This team did not lack the talent to win the ring but in my opinion the mental stability and the pressure have made it go to the capital, because having followed for all the playoffs what in effect remains an epic ride it had seemed in the previous series to see a more peaceful and safe Vegas of its means, able to get out of all the situation, something that also thanks to Washington has failed to do in this series. Today more than ever I feel compelled to applaud those who have lost and not for the usual sportiness but because they gave a lesson of sight showing that despite their old team did not want them or otherwise did not consider them so important they managed to make a group and to beat them all but one. Chapeau to the Knights!
It was since 1974 that they waited for her and they saw theothers raise it, I'm talking about the Washington Capitals that in one night they did not take off a monkey from the shoulder but king kong! What about their captain and leader? 600 and more goals without ever winning it and the title of eternal loser that started to be felt considering the advancing age, everything was washed away in race 5, not only won it but did it as a protagonist, playing like a grinder and sawing as the lethal sniper that is, may like it or not, but from today the arguments against him can only be characteristic because he has shown on the ice to be a champion and this never nobody can take it away from him. The victory was a team victory as always in hockey and the goals of Vrana, Smith-Pelly and Eller are the proof, these Capitals have won thanks to a really well assembled and trained team sweating this final since the beginning of the playoffs , eliminating the likes of the Penguins and Lightning. They were not the strongest on paper but they were on the ice and now Lord Stanley has finally found a home in the capital!
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