Ovechkin Sets the Tone As Capitals Blast Lightning in Game 7
To fully grasp what Alexander Ovechkin means to the Washington Capitals, take a look at two of the middle columns in the Game 7 box score.
These two:
- Hits ... Ovechkin registered a team-leading 5, and
- Blocked shots ... 1, which in perspective shows a megastar putting his body at serious risk.
Dude is truly the Crushin' Russian, and he's been that way since Day One in the NHL.
Now, at age 32 -- in a post-season run where the Caps need him most -- Ovie has found a way to raise the already-burning intensity of his game.
The turning point in Game 7 may well have happened 1:02 into it.
Incredibly, Tampa Bay came outta the gate as underwhelmingly as they did in Game 6 and a couple of others before that.
Ovechkin, as usual, was already in top gear:
So much for old superstitions. Used to be that nobody touched a Conference trophy, but Vegas took the Clarence Campbell Trophy into the locker room with them, and now, the Caps had no issue with grabbing the Prince of Wales Trophy.
At least the Golden Knights and Capitals are even in that respect when the Stanley Cup Finals get underway.
In contact of a more serious kind, thunder-bringer Devante Smith-Pelly forsook his own well-being for the cause:
It's what hockey players do. A clapper like that is screaming toward net at around 90mph or better. Dude was back on the ice four minutes later.
As we saw in the highlights, André Burakovsky -- the Austrian-born Swedish citizen with the Russian-type name -- was a step quicker than the 'Ning all night, and when he made something happen, his wheels of fire took him to the promised land:
Washington, with its collection of ring-free veterans whose windows of opportunity to ever win one possibly closing, was always the compelling Stanley Cup story coming outta the East this spring.
It goes without saying that Vegas is the story of the last century coming outta the West.
Both are fueled by relentless intensity. This could be a Cup battle for the ages.