After Game 1 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals, things between the Washington Capitals and the Las Vegas Golden Knights seemed to be up in the air. Both teams saw their defenses flounder and their goalies exposed. We knew we were in for a good series, but we didn't know how good.
We watched Alexander Ovechkin flourish as one of the scoring leaders for the Caps. His team managed to battle back from a disappointing Game 1, dominating the rest of the series with a high-powered offense. Despite all of the goals scored against him, Marc-Andre Fleury played outstanding in the series.
Nevertheless, the Capitals finally put everything together. How did they do it?
Caps find balance in their game
They held the Knights to eight goals in the last four games of the series. John Carlson had five goals and 15 assists along with a plus 11 rating throughout the playoffs and Brooks Orpik had a plus 17 rating. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 32 points with 12 goals and 20 assists and Alexander Ovechkin notched 15 goals. Braden Holtby had a .922 save percentage. Jay Beagle won 60.13 percent of his face-offs. Although Nicklas Backstrom was a minus one throughout the playoffs, he still contributed 23 points and 18 assists. T.J. Oshie put up eight goals with a plus five rating. Depth is a necessity when it comes to winning championships and success in the regular season.
Their best players were their best players and they received a lot of support too.
Stanley Cup Finals performance
The Washington Capitals scored 20 goals in the Stanley Cup Finals. That's an average of four goals a game for this electrifying series. One thing that really surprised, especially after their Game 1 defensive performance, was their ability to hold the Vegas Golden Knights to no more than three goals in games two through five.
The regular season doesn't define teams
For a team that allowed 239 goals in the regular season, the fourth most from teams that made the NHL playoffs, that is quite a turn around. Of the top six teams that made the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, only the Flyers scored less than the Capitals in the regular season. So what does this tell us?
When it comes to the NHL playoffs, anything done in the regular season hardly matters. The Caps proved that in these playoffs.
Fighting through adversity
Washington did not look their best in the first round against the Columbus Blue Jackets. They went down 2-0 after two devastating overtime losses, but the Capitals kept fighting, winning the next four games (two in overtime), and putting the icing on the cake with a 6-3 win.
Then they played a tough, seven-game series in the third round against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning had the most regular season wins in the NHL this season. This was supposed to be their year. Washington began the series going ahead 2-0, then Tampa came back to tie.
The Caps found themselves down 3-2 heading into Game 6, and managed to shut out the Lightning in the last two games. The Caps showed who they really were in these playoffs. They didn't start out like the best team in the NHL this season, but they certainly finished that way.
