Wednesday night’s game between the Washington Capitals and
New York Rangers, which bled in to Thursday morning, was en epic clash of two
big, strong, physical teams. The
game stretched to three overtimes.
By the end, players were bloodied and sucking down energy supplements. It was four hours and 34 minutes of
war.
“Oh my god,” said Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. “I
thought it would never end.”
Eventually it did end, 14 minutes and 41 seconds in to the
third overtime. Brad Richards won
a battle behind Braden Holtby’s net and fed the puck in front to Marian
Gaborik, who had not scored since game one of the first round. Gaborik was able to chip it through
Holtby’s legs just before the rookie could slam his pads shut.
And that was that.
The Rangers took a two games to one series lead, and left the Verizon
Center crowd shocked and stunned.
For the Capitals, it left them a long two days before Saturday
afternoon’s game four. Washington
had their chances, and they simply were not able to convert on them.
“It was that kind of game. I think both teams fought very
well. That kind of moment, you just have to use your chances,” said captain
Alex Ovechkin. “They had it and they scored. Unfortunately we had it during
that 4-on-2 and we didn’t use it.
I think we had a great chance to score some goals, but [Henrik]
Lundqvist made the save.”
Ovechkin, who has been probed and prodded this postseason
because of his erratic ice time, had the best chance of any of the overtimes. Less then ten minutes into the first
overtime, Ovechkin jumped the boards and went down the heart of the ice,
intercepting a clearing pass from New York defenseman Anton Stralman and had a
clear shot at the net.
The horn went off.
The spotlights went on. The
crowd erupted. But the puck stayed
out. Ovechkin had hit the right
post, beating Lundqvist’s outstretched glove hand but not the red iron
surrounding the net.
“That kind of opportunity, you just have to put it in,”
said Ovechkin.
Read the rest of this article here.
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