In a series that many people are calling a classic, game 7 didn’t disappoint. Six hard fought games, six one goal games, these two teams amazed hockey fans across the hockey world and gave two fan bases plenty of reasons to sweat. Game 7 was no different.
The game started to the road teams liking, coming out strong eventually leading to an Alex Ovechkin goal just about 13 minutes into the game. The same man who claimed his team would win and go and play either Tampa Bay or Montreal. A man who plenty of people said could not lead his team to the big time put his team on his back at that moment and put the Capitals in the drivers seat. Washington lead the period in shots on goal 15 to 10 after a solid period on the road.
As this whole series would tell you, New York would never go away quietly. After a couple careless penalties by Capitals defensemen Mike Green the first being killed by his teammates, the Capitals couldn’t kill the 2nd. Great plays by Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh and forward JT Miller set up stud rookie Kevin Hayes on the back door for a tap in goal tying the game six and a half minutes into period number two. This period belonged to the home team leading shots 15-7.
Hockey is never predictable but sometimes you can tell what’s going to happen at the same time. The third period started out slow, both teams guilty of icings and offsides neither team wanting to give an inch and make the first mistake potentially leading to a goal. The Capitals lead on shots on goal 8-5 for the third period, no goal was scored and we went to overtime.
Overtime surprisingly opened up, both teams got chances, chances thwarted by both defenses and great goaltending by the Rangers Lundqvist and Capitals Braden Holtby. Washington controlled play for periods of time pinning the Rangers in their own zone at least twice leading to tired Ranger defensemen and some good scoring chances. Something that seemed to trouble the Capitals throughout the series and was no different in game 7 was exiting their own zone which led to turnovers, and icings.
Sure enough, an icing led to the end of this game. After two icing plays resulting in faceoffs in the Capitals DZone Eric Fehr, a guy who was not even supposed to play hours before the game, lost a faceoff letting Keith Yandle get a shot off from the point and a fortunate bounce went right to Rangers forward Derek Stepan who fired a rebound past Braden Holtby and won the series.
It’s sometimes odd to watch these moments in sports. Pure ecstasy in one city and one team and utter disappointment and sadness from another city and team. For the happy city, this result is justified. The Rangers were the better team this series and did not deserve to be down 3-1. Even after being down 3-1 though, The Rangers never gave up. Fighting and sticking to the game plan New York started to get goals that they couldn’t get in the first 4 games. Make no mistake about it, the Rangers were the better team this series and they definitely deserved this win.
For the disappointed city, after being up 3-1 in the series and having a history of not being able to get the job done, there isn’t that much to be disappointed about. Blowing a series lead like that will sting, but this team took a big step forward this season. A year after missing the playoffs, not a lot of people expected this team to do much. Not only did they make the playoffs, they knocked out one heck of a hockey team in the New York Islanders in round 1 and took the best team in the league to the limit in the 2nd round. Ask most people at the start of the season and losing in the 2nd round in a 7 game series to the best team in the league, I think a lot of people would call that a successful season.
For the Rangers, the work is only half done, it takes 16 wins to hoist the Stanley Cup, they only have 8. The next challenge comes from the Tampa Bay Lightning, one of the east’s best teams and a team that has knocked out both Detroit and likely MVP Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens. We’re not here to make predictions right now but instead we’re here to celebrate two fantastic teams and one hell of a hockey series. Hold your heads high Capitals fans, your team was great this season. New York fans, the quest continues and as happy as you are right now, the torture will start up again Saturday.
