Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Who Will Step Up In Tonight's Game 7?

05/23/2018 at 8:53am EDT

from Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times,

He's the Lightning's best player. He's its most important player.

Well, other than goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. That's a given. Every team relies most heavily on its goalie.

But if the Lightning is going win a nerve-racking, heart-stopping, nail-biting Game 7 against the Capitals, the cool, calm and collected Victor Hedman will need to be the Lightning's next-best player.

Put it like this: if Hedman has a great Game 7, there's a good chance the Lightning will win. If he has a bad Game 7, the Lightning likely will lose.

That's how important he is to the Lightning.

continued

from Thom Loverro of the Washington Times,

As always — just as it was for Washington’s 3-0 Game 6 victory Monday night — the Capitals’ hopes and dreams rest on the play of goaltender Braden Holtby.

His shutout performance Monday came with the pressure and weight on his shoulders of a franchise dogged by decades of disappointment.

But if Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy bounces back to the form that enabled the Lightning to win three straight after the Capitals took a 2-0 lead in the series, Holtby and his teammates will need someone to take the step.
Someone will have to take the shot — the shot that propels the Capitals to just their second Stanley Cup appearance, or make the play that forever becomes part of Washington sports lore.

If Washington folds in Game 7, as has been its tradition in the playoffs (3-7 in the Alex Ovechkin era), and falls behind early with no signs of life or fight, then the Capitals will only be stepping on the hearts of their fans one more time.

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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.

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