Caps win again last night beating the Bolts 2-1 in a shootout. It had the feeling of a playoff game and it lived up to the billing. Both teams had good opportunities and it took a shootout to decide the outcome.
Neuvirth left early because a hard shot hitting him in the mask and it kind of shook him up. Enter Braeden Holtby who was fantastic. A 21 year old kid just called up again and he came in cold and was brilliant. He had at least 3 unbelievable saves. It's funny becauser all of the Caps goalies are very young but because Varly has been hurt the bulk of the season, Neuvy seems to have supplanted him as the #1 goalie. Boudreau is going to give it to Neuvy as he wanted Neuvy to play back to back games and get used to that as he will have to expect that come playoff time.
The Caps were down late but Semin came up big for the Caps for the second straight night, scoring his 24th goal of the season to tie it 1-all with 5:32 remaining in the third period. It was a wicked wrist shot that clanged off the post and in. He has one of the best wrist shots in the game and he seems to be flourishing with the Arnott on his line.
Ovie was also good down the stretch with a couple of nice opportunities to end it in regulation.
As mentioned, the game went to OT and the Caps had a few chances with a minute left as TB took a penalty making it 4 on 3 for the rest of the OT. Roloson had a couple of nice stops and it ended up going to shootout. Ovie scored on his attempt and that was all the Caps needed as Holtby stopped all of TB's shooters. In the end, the Caps get the extra point and now have a 2 point lead over TB and find themselves only 2 points out of the top spot in the East.
Frankly, it doesn't matter what seed they get. When you look at the playoff teams in the East, they are all solid and I truly believe the seedings will be meaningless. The question is who is hot going into the playoffs and who will get the solid goaltending needed to win series'. The Caps have won 7 of their last 8 and are doing it in tight games and finding ways to win. I have mentioned that I like the way these guys are playing and just hope it continues through the playoffs.
UNLEASH THE FURY!!!
3 comments:
I didn't start watching until 10 minutes to go in the 3rd, but I saw what I needed to see. The team is playing with a lot of confidence and is regaining the aggressive offensive approach. Yes, there's a focus on defense, but that focus appears to be more of a product of staying in position to avoid odd man rushes...not really a change in system.
From what I saw, we were the dominant team. I can only recall the Lightning getting one quality scoring opportunity where the puck went across the goal mouth twice and Holtby came up with a great pad save to keep the game tied. Other than that, it seemed like we were dictating the flow of the game. Semin and Ovie were playing with purpose...something that Boudreau has been harping on. The stars need to step it up and last night they did.
I like the momentum we're building. Hopefully confidence builds and we can start scoring more goals. Winning a few games by more than one goal will only build more confidence as the playoffs approach.
Talent is important but having mental toughness is critical to winning championships.
All of these close wins should pay off in the playoffs. We'll see, but I really like the way things are playing out right now.
Great game!
Agree that finding ways to win and pulling out these close games is big going into the playoffs.
Again, this is the best I have felt about this team this season. Will be good to get back a healthy Neuvy, Backstrom, and Green as we gear for the playoffs.
Feel like we can really make a good run for it this year.
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