Vegas Stays Golden; Capitals Stay Alive in Stanley Cup Hunt

This is a tale of two franchises, dripping with irony:

• The Vegas Golden Knights view themselves as a collection of misfits, discarded by their clubs as being expendable in the expansion draft and now playing with house money; while
• The Washington Capitals view themselves as among the favorites to win the Cup, set on putting paid to the notion that they can't get out of their own way in the playoffs.

However, it's the upstart Knights who have cruised into the Stanley Cup's second round, while the Caps are still trying to shake their image as underachievers who are gonna need a long series to get there.

 

After Washington lost its first two games at home, Alex Ovechkin proclaimed his team would return for Game 5 with the series tied at two games apiece.

That assumed they'd take Game 3, and with a revitalized Braden Holtby back in goal, they did. But it took a grinder's goal by Lars Eller in double-overtime to do it:

 

The Caps had to survive what's become the obligatory Tom Wilson penalty and another grinding goal that was waved off, but they're still in with a shout to make Ovie's prediction true.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets continue to impress. They've rarely led in these games -- and never in this one -- but their tenacity in front of minesweeper Sergei Bobrovsky means they're never far from getting top billing in this matchup.

 

Then there are those miracle workers on ice, sweeping the Los Angeles Kings right outta the rink.

The hell of it is, this looks normal by now:

 

Lest the soon-to-be announced expansion team in Seattle gets any ideas of duplicating the Knights' incredible first season, it's doubtful they'll see a goalie like Marc-André Fleury when they pick their first roster.

Vegas rolls four lines of grinders, inspired by the leadership of veterans like James Neal. Washington rolls a foursome of stars like Ovechkin, Nicklas Bäckström, John Carlson, and Evgeny Kuznetsov out there as often as possible.

 

Dudes need to fight being dog-tired as their minutes pile up.

That'll be a factor as this series continues and may come back to haunt the Caps if they survive for another round.

Meanwhile, the Knights have time to recharge as they await the San José Sharks, unless Anaheim can become the fifth team ever to overcome a 3-0 series deficit.

 

Meanwhile, Columbus is 26-12-3 at home this season, so the odds of their making life tougher for Washington are still quite favorable.

It's still a tall order for the Caps.

The Knights, on the other hand, have been made to order for the playoff grind. Up to now, at least.