Congrats Caps!

[Lord Jim]

NHL playoffs: Capitals blank Lightning in Game 7, will face Golden Knights for Stanley Cup

Alex Ovechkin scored early and Andre Burakovsky added two second-period goals to help the Washington Capitals put a decade [make that two decades] of playoff frustration behind them with a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final Wednesday night.

Braden Holtby stopped 29 shots for his second straight shutout and the Lightning, who led the NHL in goals during the regular season, failed to score in the last 159 minutes, 27 seconds — a stretch of nearly eight periods.

Ovechkin, who had never played a team that advanced beyond the second round, scored 1:02 into the winner-take-all showdown he had described as probably the "biggest game in my life."

Nicklas Backstrom had an empty-netter to complete the rout.

To earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, where they'll play the Vegas Golden Knights, the Capitals beat the top-seeded Lightning three times on the road, improving to 8-2 away from home this postseason.

It's Washington's first Cup Final appearance since 1998, and the first during Ovechkin's 13-year career.

[RayThom]

Good luck on that, LJ.

The LV Golden Knights are a team of destiny this year. I doubt this Stanley Cup series will need all seven games.

[Bicycle Bill]

And the Toronto Maple Leafs are, yet again, on the outside looking in.....

How long has it been since the Leafs hoisted Lord Stanley's cup?  Oh, at least three logos ago......


In fact, since the Cup will get never any larger — when all the spaces for the winning team's name and roster have been filled, the oldest band on the pedestal is removed to make room for future champions — once this year's winner has been determined, the band listing the winners from 1954 through 1965 will be taken off and the name "Toronto Maple Leafs" will not even be listed on the trophy (the retired bands are preserved and go on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame located, ironically, in Toronto).

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

That makes me really sad, especially coupled with the fact that an ice hockey team based in the cesspool desert of Nevada is in the Stanley Cup matchup this year.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I suggest a change to a more grammatical and more appropriate name:

Toronto Maple Leaves

[Big RR]

I suppose you'd also insist that the Philadlpha Flyers be Fliers?

[MajGenl.Meade]

Well, its ice hockey - wouldn't want to send to meny of it's fan's scrambling to find one of them booc things that shows words in it, ya know.

[Sue U]

I suppose you'd also insist that the Philadlpha Flyers be Fliers?

Don't know why you would, since it's pronounced "Flahrs" anyways.

[RayThom]

From the WaPo:

Capitals-Golden Knights Game 1: Vegas surges back in front, 5-4

Three more and it's all over. VGK in six.

[Lord Jim]

It was exciting right up to the end...

Now let's have some exciting games with the final score going the other way...

[MajGenl.Meade]

Table tennis?

[Lord Jim]

[Lord Jim]

Since for some reason Ray hasn't been updating this thread, permit me:

Capitals dominate Golden Knights for Game 3 win

It took four rounds of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Vegas Golden Knights to finally experience a crisis of confidence, whether they acknowledge it or not. That’s what this driven, stingy Washington Capitals team is capable of.

The Capitals also stand as the first team to give the Cinderella Golden Knights back-to-back playoff defeats. (You know, if you needed another reminder of just how sensational Vegas’ run has been. Golden Knights fans might appreciate that comfort, as they haven’t been to that “sad playoff place” all that often.)

https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2018/06/02/ca ... ame-3-win/

Unlike some folks, I don't have a problem with Las Vegas having a major sport championship per se. I like Las Vegas, Kelly has some relatives who live there, and since the town has now grown to the point that it has a large enough local population base to support an NHL franchise, (and soon an NFL franchise) more power to them...

What I do have a substantial problem with however, is an expansion franchise, no matter where they are located, winning a championship in their first season...

Fans should not be spoiled with a championship team right off the bat; they should have to pay their dues rooting for a losing team for at least a few seasons before being rewarded with the pinnacle of the sport's success...

It's just the proper moral order of the universe that it be that way...it helps build character...

We Caps fans had many seasons of character building; I wouldn't want to deny the residents of Las Vegas the same opportunity...

[RayThom]

... We Caps fans had many seasons of character building...

"We're going to have so much character building you're going to be so sick and tired of character building."

There are four games left to be played in the series. Let's not gloat until after game seven.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Unlike some folks, I don't have a problem with Las Vegas having a major sport championship per se

That's nice - but first they should get a major sport team. Rugby?

[RayThom]

Game 4: 3rd Period -- Caps 4 VGK 1. 11 minutes to go. It appears the Caps are getting lucky again tonight.

No sweat! The Knights work best under pressure. On to game 7.

[Lord Jim]

After 3 close games, a good old fashioned ass-kicking...

I don't know for sure how this is going to end, (it ain't over till it's over, to coin a phrase) but I do know that:

VGK in six.

[RayThom]

VGK in six."

Give or take...

[RayThom]

Drats! Wishful thinking on my part... and many others.

I was hoping to see a group of young, snot-nosed, upstarts, winning the whole enchilada the first time around, beating a hapless team that for decades may have gotten close but always failed when it truly mattered.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. I wonder if they'll show up at the White House for a photo-op with the Hockey Puck-in-Chief? That will teach 'em.

Just wait til next year.

[Lord Jim]

Let's not gloat until after game seven.

Sorry, I'm not going to be able to wait that long...

Capitals Defeat Golden Knights 4-3 To Win Their 1st Stanley Cup

Too much?