Having faced some adversity and their own mortality in a fickle sport that does not always see the best team win, the Washington Capitals enter the second round of the 2016 NHL playoffs a little more aware of just how tough their quest for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup will be.
For the Presidents’ Trophy winners, who so many expected to cruise to the conference final, a wake-up call of sorts may be just what they needed.
The Capitals advanced with a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of their first-round series, finally finishing off the Flyers after dropping two straight games in regulation against the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed—something the Caps didn’t do through all 82 games of the regular season.
After picking up three straight wins to start the playoffs, the Caps were smothered by a dialed-in goaltender in Michael Neuvirth, who put together a shutout streak of more than 106 minutes and stopped 72 straight shots to help put the outcome of the seven-game series in doubt for the first time.
Neuvirth nearly single-handedly forced a Game 7 to ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Steve Macfarlane
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April 24th, 2016 by Steve Macfarlane Leave a reply »
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