from Alex Prewitt of Capitals Insider,

For all the unfamiliar blanketing the Capitals – the pregame bus ride to a home game, the scores of family members in town during the regular season, even the relative hype surrounding a matchup with a Western Conference opponent – the players must also handle the unique experience of playing outdoors.

Rather than pressed against the boards, slamming them after every hit, fans sit hundreds of feet away. The distance causes their sound to travel in ways foreign to the skaters. Score a goal, wait a second, then hear the roar.

“It’s almost like a wave coming in,” said the Rangers’ Carl Hagelin, who’s played in five outdoor games since he was 18 – two in college and three in the NHL.

“Out in the middle of nowhere,” is how the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Matt Carle described it, because even inside a stadium stuffed with far more people than Verizon Center can hold, the ice is often silent. The glass blocks out any sound the wind didn’t already carry away.

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