The Latest from Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights (all times local):
11 p.m.
The Washington Capitals are one win away from the first Stanley Cup championship in the 43-year history of the franchise.
T.J. Oshie Kalen Ballage Color Rush Jersey , Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly all scored in the first period and the Capitals cruised from there in routing the Vegas Golden Knights 6-2 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Only the 1942 Detroit Red Wings have blown a 3-1 series lead after winning the first three games against Toronto.
Game 5 is Thursday night in Las Vegas.
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10:45 p.m.
James Neal has ended a long scoring drought for the Vegas Golden Knights and Reilly Smith added another goal, but the Washington Capitals still lead 5-2 late in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Neal scored 5:43 into the third period. He had missed an open net in the first period, when the game was scoreless. His goal broke up Braden Holtby’s shutout bid. It was the first goal against Holtby in 62:14 of ice time, since Game 3.
Smith added another with 7:35 left in the game, but Michal Kempny answered with a goal little more than minute later to restore a three-goal lead.
The Capitals are looking to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series that continues with Game 5 on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
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9:55 p.m.
The Washington Capitals are 20 minutes away from a commanding 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights.
John Carlson scored the only goal of the second period on a power play at 15:23, giving the Capitals a 4-0 lead. T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly all scored in the first period.
Vegas is still trying to find a way to put the puck past goalie Braden Holtby.
The Golden Knights have not held the lead since Game 1 and have been outscored 10-3 since winning the opener. Game 5 is Thursday night in Las Vegas.
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9:40 p.m.
The Washington Capitals got three goals in the first period of Game 4 and are spending much of the second period making sure the lead stands up against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Striving to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final, the Capitals have killed a pair of power plays to maintain a three-goal cushion.
Vegas has a 20-13 advantage in shots on goal, but Washington has goals from T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly.
The Capitals have not trailed at any point since their Game 1 loss.
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9:30 p.m.
High schooler Jack Merritt threw a crab on the ice after Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final and hopes it becomes a Washington Capitals tradition.
The 15-year-old from Chevy Chase, Maryland, said before Game 4 that a crab is better than the ”stupid” plastic flamingo thrown onto the ice to celebrate Vegas Golden Knights wins. He knows all about the plastic rats in Florida http://www.patriotsauthorizedshop.com/authentic-troy-niklas-jersey , the octopi in Detroit and the catfish in Nashville. He wants crabs to be a thing at Capital One Arena after Washington victories.
Merritt bought a crab from a local restaurant before Game 3 and brought it into the arena with hope. He got down to the lower bowl from his upper-deck seats and managed to get the crab on the ice after the Capitals beat the Golden Knights 3-1 to take a 2-1 series lead.
Without tickets to Game 4, Merritt only hopes someone else follows his lead.
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9:10 p.m.
Capitals fans had plenty to cheer about during the first period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final after goals by T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly.
They also got to cheer during a TV timeout.
Two months after the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crash killed 16 in Canada, forward Kaleb Dahlgren from the Saskatchewan junior league was shown on video screens at Capital One Arena.
Dahlgren got a nice reaction from the crowd and then a roar when he lifted up his yellow Humboldt jersey to reveal a red Capitals jersey.
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9 p.m.
The Washington Capitals have taken a 3-0 lead into the first intermission of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Washington is looking to take a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-7 series.
Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly both scored in the final four minutes of the period after T.J. Oshie put the Capitals on top with a power-play goal 9:56 into the game.
Wilson is known for hard checks and time spent in the penalty box, but on this occasion he beat Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with a shot from the slot at 3:58. Not long after that, Smith-Pelly scored from a tough angle on the left side after a weird bounce.
Earlier, with the game scoreless and the Golden Knights on the power play, Vegas winger James Neal hit the post in front of an open net.
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8:35 p.m.
T.J. Oshie has given Washington an early 1-0 lead over Vegas in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Evgeny Kuznetsov’s shot off Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury rebounded to Oshie in front of the net and he jammed it home on the power play 9:54 into the first period.
The Golden Knights look much quicker on offense than in Game 3, when they took only 22 shots. James Neal missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring, hitting the right post when firing at an open net.
It is the third straight game the Capitals have scored first and they have won the last two for a 2-1 series lead.
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8:20 p.m.
The puck has dropped, and Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final is under way in the nation’s capital with Vegas trying to even the series against Washington at 2-2.
The Golden Knights are starting Tomas Tatar in place of Raw emotion came from Alex Ovechkin as he wore an ”Eastern Conference champions” hat for the first time.
Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will play for the Stanley Cup. It’s a journey 14 years in the making from Ovechkin being the first overall draft pick to the greatest goal scorer of this generation – and a player who until this year hasn’t made it out of the second round of the playoffs through little fault of his own. Yet he’s gotten an uneven proportion of the blame.
Ovechkin essentially willed the Capitals to the Cup Final with 12 goals, 10 assists and the best postseason of his career. In one spring, the 32-year-old Russian superstar has ended Washington’s 20-year final drought, slayed demons and destroyed the old narrative that he can’t get the job done when it matters most.
”The special thing is because we’re winning,” Ovechkin said before the Capitals left for Las Vegas. ”That’s the whole thing. That’s all I can say. We win and we move forward. We’ve never been in this position before. All my career, I played for this team, and we never get the success like that.”
Ovechkin bore the brunt of nine playoff appearances ending after the first or second round despite being a point-a-game player. With time running out on chasing the trophy he knew all about as a kid, this season has featured a different-looking player.
General manager Brian MacLellan sees a new level of maturity on and off the ice that he believes comes from Ovechkin getting married. A different offseason training regimen allowed Ovechkin to produce more at even strength, and the result was an NHL-leading 49 goals.
”I think the way he plays this year is more within the team structure,” MacLellan said. ”This is the most systematic he’s played throughout his career, in my mind.”
In the playoffs Avonte Maddox Color Rush Jersey , Ovechkin has raised his game even further. His vintage physicality and his willingness to get his body in front of shots and hustle down ice on the backcheck have been noticeable.
”When you see him blocking shots, you see him coming back hard, you see him playing physical, he’s getting more and more excited,” linemate Tom Wilson said. ”It seems like every round you win, he’s playing even harder. And that’s what you need out of your top guys. When he’s going, you’re aware he’s on the ice. Everyone in the building knows he’s on the ice.”
During the third round, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said Ovechkin has ”taken 14 years of frustration out in one playoffs.” Ovechkin is reluctant to talk about previous playoff disappointments, but they’ve been tied to him.
Even though this is a team sport, someone has to be the greatest player to never win the Cup. Until now, arguably that’s Ovechkin, a label he has the chance to shed beginning in Game 1 of the final Monday at the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.
”He’s an elite player that shoulders the responsibility of how our team performs http://www.lionsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-sylvester-williams-jersey , whether that is fair or unfair, and I think that happens to all those elite players in the league,” MacLellan said. ”They get built up when they win and they get torn down a little bit when they lose. It is not always fair, because it is a team game. And for him, he has shouldered a lot of the burden that has gone on here for the last 11 years or whatever the time period has been, and hopefully this is a time when he gets payback and enjoys it this year.”
Ovechkin is enjoying hockey seemingly like never before. Coach Barry Trotz wondered if being the face of the franchise and carrying the burden weighed on Ovechkin all those years.
Getting past the Pittsburgh Penguins and the second round made Ovechkin look ”freer” in Trotz’s eyes.
”You want your top guys to be on a mission, and I think that has freed him to carry on the mission rather than have to explain why he didn’t go farther and have to do it every spring,” Trotz said. ”He’s having fun. He’s producing. He’s all in. If you’re going to have success, you have to have all-in contribution, and he has. I think he’s enjoying the run, the playoffs, maybe for the first time in a long time.”
Since returning home to Washington after advancing to the Final Geron Christian Color Rush Jersey , Ovechkin said fans have come up to him to say thank you, good job, and to express pride. But he doesn’t want to celebrate too much because he knows how difficult every step of the playoffs is to conquer.
”It’s hard. It’s not easy,” Ovechkin said. ”This organization, it’s been too long to be in this position, and I’ve never been in this position. Only Brooks Orpik has won the Stanley Cup and been in the final. Now this group is excited and we’re ready to go.”
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09.08.2018 11:28
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