For a very different version of the Washington Capitals, this remarkable season is already a success. Now, the real fun begins.
PHILADELPHIA — So much of the joy in sports is based on the expectations that precede a celebration, on the circumstances in which an accomplishment is achieved. So here were the Washington Capitals — not those old Stanley Cup-contending Washington Capitals, but a different version with an altered reality — gathered in a grinning group on the ice at Wells Fargo Center. They vigorously patted each other on the heads, gloves knocking helmets around.
That meant that a tie late in the game — and the possibility of overtime, in which the Caps would earn their 90th point, eliminating Philadelphia — essentially put the Flyers in a deficit.So for Philadelphia Coach John Tortorella, pulling goalie Samuel Ersson would come earlier than normal — with more than three minutes remaining, and the score tied. Except at almost that exact same moment nearly 400 miles away, Detroit scored with five seconds left to force overtime in Montreal.
“But you could tell no matter what your situation, whether you’re playing in your first year, like a lot of our guys, or you’re playing in your 17th season, this group — you could tell how bad they wanted to find ways to win every night.”It’s so striking what skin-of-the-teeth qualification means to this roster when cast against how those old juggernaut Capitals teams barreled into the playoffs.
They will be underdogs, and heavy underdogs, against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers. The kids on this team won’t remember the burden New York has to bear, but maybe some old heads will. The 2010 Capitals won that very same trophy issued to the team with the best record in the NHL. They lost in the first round to eighth-seeded Montreal. The 2016 and ’17 versions of the Caps earned Presidents’ Trophy status and couldn’t make it out of the second round.
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