Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Done Again In Columbus

04/24/2018 at 8:09am EDT

from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,

The Capitals set up another heartbreaking, second-round loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins by first taking care of the Jackets. The Caps capped the series with a 6-3 victory Monday night in Game 6 before a crowd that did not have enough beer at Nationwide Arena. Oh, there was beer. But not enough.

The Capitals trailed two games to zip after dropping a pair at home last week. They came back and won four in a row, three at Nationwide. For what it’s worth, Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky came away confident that nobody will say he needs a psychologist anymore. I’ll just leave that there.

The Jackets have been in business for nearly 20 years and they have yet to win a Stanley Cup playoff series. A lot of people — within and without the locker room — thought maybe this was the year. Hope was further stoked after the Jackets took the aforementioned two-zip lead with a pair of overtime victories at Capital One Arena....

To me, Game 3 stands above all. You talk about what if, what if, what if — what if the Jackets take a three-zip lead in the series with a victory at Nationwide? Man, all the struggles the fans have gone through with this franchise would have been washed away with just one more goal in the first overtime, or the second, on April 17, 2018.

Maybe next year.

more, basically breaking down the series game by game...

from Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post,

The Washington Capitals celebrated like it was any other victory. Goaltender Braden Holtby straightened in net as his teammates calmly left the bench and skated over to hug him one-by-one. The mood in the locker room was happy but subdued.

Washington beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-3, in Game 6 to win the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series between the teams, four games to two. For a team that seemed to accomplish so much, the Capitals merely met their own high expectations.

“I think we accomplished what we believed we could from the start of the series,” Holtby said nonchalantly. “Obviously, enjoy it for a bit, rest up and prepare for the next one.”

After falling into an early two-games-to-none series hole, losing both of the first two games at home, the Capitals won four straight playoff games, three of which were on the road, for the first time since 1990 to advance to the second round for the fourth consecutive season, a first in franchise history.

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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