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| Photo Credit: The Guardian (the best British newspaper ever 'cos it reports on hockey) |
This Eastern Conference series was tied 1-1 when it headed to the nation's capital. Taking a Game 3 win would be pivotal in the series for either side, so neither would give up. That's why it took almost six full periods and 102 minutes of play for Marian Gaborik of the Rangers to break the deadlock and give his team the win.
The Caps are now down 2-1 in the series. The goal came so late in the game, it was so sudden and unexpected. The realisation was sudden. We were losing the series, and this is how it felt:
The horse represents the goal and the kid represents the Caps fanbase. Powerful imagery.
You can't blame Holtby for this loss. Guy made 47 saves on 49 shots, despite being on ice for 114 minutes. To stay alert for this long is impressive for any goalie, let alone one in his first playoffs.
So what went wrong?
The Caps outshot the Rangers in regulation, at 29-27. However, total game they were outshot 49-46.
It's really hard to pinpoint anything that cost the Caps the game, they could have capitalised their chances better but Hank was hotter than fire. The fact is an overtime win really comes down mainly to luck. The Caps were outshot throughout overtime, and luck swung the Rangers' way. The key to winning an overtime game is to fire pucks on net from left right and center. The Caps were understandably incredibly frustrated by this loss, and poor Karl Alzner had to come back to this. (Photo via his twitter)
The Caps need to believe in Game 4. It's so important that they bounce back and win on Saturday, and they can then use momentum from the win to go ahead and snatch Game 5 - giving them two chances to win the series. I'll hesitate to still say Caps in 6, but they will win this series. Remember the Caps losing Game 3 in the first round? Well, there's a reason why we're in the second round, I'll leave it at that.
I'll be live tweeting Game 4 - Cam
Let's Go Caps #rally
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