One Win Away For Washington

Forty three years is a long time to wait for a championship. That's how long the Washington Capitals have been in the National Hockey League. They are in the finals for the second time in franchise history, and now sit one win away from their first ever Stanley Cup Championship following a 6-1 win in game four. Playing the roles of hero in game four were Evgeny Kuznetsov, who had four assists, and Nicklas Backstrom, who had three.

Washington got a jump early, scoring three times in the opening period. About halfway through the first, TJ Oshie got Washington on the board with a powerplay goal, set up by Kuznetsov and Backstrom. That would be a recurring theme on the night, both guys setting up a goal and Washington converting on the man advantage. Washington kept their offense rolling, when Tom Wilson got on the board with about four minutes left in the first. To put the icing on the cake for the Caps scoring in the opening frame, Devante Smith-Pelly pulled off this:


For Smith-Pelly, it was his 6th of the post season and none bigger, or prettier, then that one.Washington scored the only goal in the middle frame, with about five minutes left in the period. John Carlson scored on the man advantage, his 5th of the playoffs. What made the shot by Carlson even more impressive was the fact that he scored it from Ovechkin's office, at the top of the left wing circle. Carlson proved that it's not just Ovechkin who can hit the mark from that spot. Vegas made it 4-2 in the third period on goals from James Neal, and Reilly Smith. Vegas momentum didn't last long in the period, as Michal Kempny scored to put Washington ahead 5-2. Brett Connolly sealed the deal with a 5 on 3 powerplay goal with under two minutes left in regulation to put Washington up 6-2.

Again, the big story of the night was Evgeny Kuznetsov, who became just the 12 player in history to have four assists in a Stanley Cup Finals game, becoming the first player to do it since Joe Sakic did it in game two of the 1996 Finals. He's now got 31 points in the playoffs, on 12 goals and 19 assists, and is making a strong argument for being named the Conn Smyth Trophy winner as MVP of the playoffs. It's interesting to note that even though Vegas outshot Washington in game four by a 30-23 count, they still couldn't find a way to pull even in this series. It was a combination of fine goaltending by Brayden Holtby and the inability to kill off penalties. Vegas came up empty on the man advantage, going 0 for 4, while getting burned for three powerplay goals. Vegas needs to get their speed game going again and try and find a way to stay composed in game five if they want to have any chance to extend this series to at least a sixth game. Go back and watch tape of what happened in game one if Vegas wants to try and figure out what to do to get this thing to work.

By the time all was said and done at Capital One Arena, fans were screaming We Want The Cup. They have a chance to have that happen Thursday night in Vegas.