Desperate Capitals Played Like It, Force Lightning to Game 7

It's been hard to figure out the Eastern Conference finals this year.

Not that there's no intensity in the regular season, but in an 82-game, there's a hella lotta tomorrows to take into account.

The post-season, conversely and obviously, has no tomorrows showing up frequently.

So why don't the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning consistently play like it?

 

Or something.

The strategic components aren't on the coaches. Both Barry Trotz and Jon Cooper have been installing solid game plans and pushing every in-game button necessary.

But for some reason, players on each team have collectively spaced out at terrible times. Most key goals have been the results of mistakes at head-scratching times. Not exactly what one would expect from these two.

 

Well, when Game 6 rolled around -- with the exceptions of Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby -- it dawned on the Capitals that they've actually reached a no-tomorrow moment.

It sorta improved their end-to-end focus:

 

This 3-0 tour de force merely means there's gonna be a Game 7 in Tampa, where Washington's won twice in this series.

Just like the Lightning have won twice in DC.

Only one player on each roster possesses a Stanley Cup ring:

• Chris Kunitz for Tampa Bay, and
• Brooks Orpik for Washington.

 

Orpik led the Caps' hit parade in Game 6 with six crunches. Ovechkin's been right there all spring, and he knocked the 'Ning around four times in this one. Others followed suit:

• Devante Smith-Pelly landed five hits, and
• Swedes Nicklas Bäckström and Lars Eller delivered two each.

 

Tampa Bay's puzzling lethargy was examplified in the play that produced Smith-Pelly's goal:

• Dude swept the puck outta his own zone to blunt a Lightning attack,
• Chandler Stephenson won the race to it, negating an icing call, and
• Ultimately fed Smith-Pelly, who came all the way down ice to bury it.

 

Maybe the fact that both clubs are finally in a no-tomorrow situation will bring out the best in each of them for three full periods or longer.

 

It'd be preferable to see the survivor go to the Stanley Cup finals because of extra effort as opposed to fewer lapses.