Washington Capitals Win Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals 3-1
The Washington Capitals have taken a 2-1 lead against the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup finals winning tonight 3-1. The Capitals continued the momentum from last game’s victory in Vegas to Washington tonight and played an amazing game.
The fans didn’t disappoint with an amazing turn out outside the arena for the viewing party, and Washington’s biggest celebrities showed up in support. Actor Kenan Thompson, former Washington Redskins and current NASCAR owner Joe Gibbs, NBA star and current Indiana Pacer Victor Oladipo, Lynda, Carter the original Wonder Women and Pat Sajak showed up in ALLCAPS. Pat Sajak got the crowed fires up doing a great job announcing the line ups, and shared an amazing story how he’s been a diehard fan and season ticket holder for 13 years.
Braden Holtby played another amazing game tonight stopping 21 of 22 shots. Holtby’s rebound control was on another level. Holtby should’ve had a shutout, but made a bad mistake in the third period when he went to play the puck behind the net, and was pressured into passing the puck in front of the net setting up Pierre-Edourad Bellemare to pass the puck to Thomas Nosek for an empty net goal.
Alex Ovechkin played again like a real captain. He was one of the best players on the ice tonight scoring the first goal of the game, five shots on net, two hits and two blocked shots. Ovechkin now has a blocked shot in three games. He’s laying his body on the line for the team; blocking shots is something Ovechkin hasn’t really done in the past, but he’s showing his leadership when it really matters.
Evgeny Kuznetsov was a game-time decision tonight after getting injured game two, and played another amazing game. He finished the game with a goal and a assist. He assisted on Ovechkins goal, and scored the second goal of the game firing a rocket past Fluerys glove.
The Capitals had guys stepping up on all lines. The fourth line played amazing tonight. Chandler Stephenson was playing with great grit getting to lose pucks, and Davonte Smith-Pelly scored the third goal of the game after Jay Beagles awesome pass.
Beagle finished the night with two primary assist, and was great on the penalty kill. Beagle also had three hits and three blocked shots.
The Capitals overall looked like a team that’s hungry. They dominated Vegas in all aspects of the game out shooting and out hitting the Knights all game. The stat that stand outs the most tonight is that the Capitals had 26 blocked shots compared to Vegas’s nine blocked shots. That’s the kind of commitment and grit that wins championships. Game four will be Monday night and hopefully the Capitals can continue this momentum going! Go Caps!
