The pass in front of goal was received by Carter Verhaeghe, who shot the backhanded shot in overtime. There is a time and a place.
Washington is done.
The Washington Caps were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday, falling 4-3 in overtime in their first-round series against Florida.
The game was decided by Carter Verhaeghe's sixth goal of the playoffs. Washington has not advanced in the playoffs since winning the Stanley Cup.
The last time they won a playoff series was in 1996, when they appeared in a Cup Final. The winner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning will face off in the second round. Game 7 is on Saturday at 7 p.m. Time.
The eight seed was up against the Presidents Trophy winners, so Washington was in a tough place entering the playoffs. The Florida team scored a franchise-record 122 points in the league.
The Caps took a 2-1 lead in the series after Game 3.
Washington won the first two games of the series by a combined score of 10-3, pushing Sergei Bobrovsky to the limit and challenging the Florida forwards. The Caps held a three goal lead in the game, but they let it slip away and ended up with their backs against the wall.
That was crucial for the team. It gave them back an upper hand in the series and quieted some of Washington's growing confidence ahead of the decisive Game 6 in their own building.
Washington scored late to force overtime in Game 6 and made the Carolinas work for the series victory.
Nic Dowd beat Bobrovsky early in the second period, and the Caps were on the board first. Florida's Ryan Lomberg made it 2-2 heading into the third period.
Less than two minutes into the final frame, Nicklas Backstrom put the Caps back on top. Claude Giroux scored his third goal of the playoffs midway through the second, and the captain scored the go-ahead goal late in the third for the Florida.
The only team not to have scored a power play goal in the playoffs is now moving on to the second round. The Florida power play was the fifth-best in the league with a 24.4%) success rate.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
