Alex Ovechkin was the hero for the Washington Capitals in Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night.
Ovechkin fired a slap shot past Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy after one minute and two seconds of the first period of Game 7, and that took much of the pressure off of the Caps. They won 4-0 to clinch the Eastern Conference Final series by a 4-3 margin.
The Washington captain had never made it past the second round in any of his previous playoff appearances with the team, but that history of failure is in the past. The Capitals overcame a 2-0 deficit in the first round against the Columbus Blue Jackets and defeated the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round.
They had plenty of momentum as the Eastern Conference Final started and jumped to a 2-0 lead before dropping the next three games. Instead of folding in Game 6 and giving the Lightning the series, the Caps registered back-to-back shutouts behind goaltender Braden Holtby to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Lightning could not solve Holtby in Game 7 even though the Capitals netminder gave up a number of key rebounds in the first and second periods.
While Holtby was keeping the Bolts from finding the back of the net, Andre Burakovsky scored two goals in the second period to stretch the lead to 3-0. Nicklas Backstrom added an empty-net goal in the third.
The Capitals will meet the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final, and Game 1 of the series will be played Monday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Stanley Cup Final Schedule
Game 1: Washington Capitals at Vegas Golden Knights, May 28, 8 p.m., NBC
Game 2: Washington Capitals at Vegas Golden Knights, May 30, 8 p.m., NBCSN
Game 3: Vegas Golden Knights at Washington Capitals, June 2, 8 p.m., NBCSN
Game 4: Vegas Golden Knights at Washington Capitals, June 4, 8 p.m., NBC
Game 5: Washington Capitals at Vegas Golden Knights, June 7, 8 p.m., NBC, if necessary
Game 6: Vegas Golden Knights at Washington Capitals, June 10, 8 p.m., NBC, if necessary
Game 7: Washington Capitals at Vegas Golden Knights, June 13, 8 p.m., NBC, if necessary
The Golden Knights opened as minus-135 favorites (wager $135 to win $100), while the Capitals are plus-115 underdogs, according to OddsShark. The outlet also tweeted that the Caps had moved to plus-125 as a result of early action coming in on the Golden Knights.
"It's going to be a wild ride in Vegas," Tom Wilson of the Capitals said, per David Satriano of NHL.com. "That's going to be a heck of a show, and we're looking forward to a pretty historic final."
The Golden Knights defeated the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference Final in five games. Vegas defeated the Los Angeles Kings (four games) in the first round and the San Jose Sharks (six games) in the second round.
General manager George McPhee said that nobody associated with the first-year team is satisfied with just getting to the championship round.
"We have more games to win," McPhee asserted, per Lisa Dillman of NHL.com. "It's why we're here. We're not just satisfied at just getting here. We've all been around the game long enough to know you don't get these opportunities very often. For some of us, it's been 20 years."
Both of these teams have earned their trips to the Stanley Cup Final, and while the Capitals were pushed to the limit, the Golden Knights will be rested and ready when the series gets underway Monday.
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