from Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Bog,
“Guys are a little bit shocked, don’t know what to think,” Matt Niskanen said after the loss. “We’re hurt, for sure. We were obviously in a great position. We believed that we could — we believed we had a good shot of moving on and doing something. And it didn’t happen.”
“I don’t know either,” Karl Alzner said, when asked for help interpreting the result. “Just don’t think about it for a day or two. I don’t really know how you can determine [who was the better team]. Well, I guess they are. They’re the team that’s moving on.”
Most team sports are capricious, but playoff hockey often seems especially so. New York’s Game 5 goals — both of which hit obstacles on their way past Braden Holtby — might easily have bounced in more favorable directions. A potential Washington goal was disallowed. Overtime is so often a coinflip, which Washington lost twice. Which helps explain why some Caps were left thinking they had played well enough to advance.
“We’re a great team, and I think we deserve a better result,” captain Alex Ovechkin said.
“I thought we deserved this series,” agreed Eric Fehr, who watched most of it as a spectator while he nursed an injury. “I thought we worked hard, and I thought that this was going to be the year we were going to break through.”
They didn’t. And because of that, the Caps must grapple with the same confusing questions the rest of us are facing.
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