Gotta love game seven! The Rangers and Washington fought a close game up til Sergei Fedorov scored to put Caps into the next round. You've got to like Fedorov being the guy who finished off New York. He always finds a way to make his presence felt, even after all these years. The Washington Capitals as a franchise can look back to this series as proof that they have the gumption, the jam, and the will to fight back and win when many have written them off. Trailing 3-1, the Caps had a monumental comeback, winning 3 straight against a tough, determined Rangers squad. Now Washington faces the Pittsburgh Penguins - a team that has also stepped up their game in the postseason.
Both teams had scored a single goal in the first, Leaf castoff Nik Antropov at 5:35 for the Rangers and Alex Semin scored for the Caps with on a weird deflection about 10 minutes later. Both Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers and Washington's rookie Simeon Varlamov made lots of gamesavers through the 2nd and 3rd periods building to a winner take all with minutes remaining. The Capitals were looking to exorcise past demons like Islanders Pat LaFontaine's OT goal way back in 1987 and last year's loss to Philadelphia in OT that had knocked the Caps out of the playoffs. The Rangers were putting on a lot of pressure and Washington right winger Matt Bradley did a behind the back pass to Fedorov who flew down the wing like in days long past, into the Rangers' zone, stopped and fired high, glove side on Lunqvist and and in. The Caps' faithful erupted and knew that this was their time. The Capitals just kept the Rangers away from the Caps end as best they could as time slipped away on the Rangers' season. The last minute was pretty much all spent in the New York end of the rink and the Rangers didn't have an opportunity to pull Lundqvist for an extra attacker. And the celebration was in Washington.
This was also the first playoff series win for the Washington Capitals in 11 years! A looong time coming. This win must also be very sweet for the sixteen players on the Capitals (including Alexander Ovechkin) who came back last year after trailing 3-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers only to be stung with an overtime loss to the Flyers on the Caps' home ice.
One thing I noticed was Fedorov making a point of patting rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov on the head and telling him (likely in Russian) good job kid. Didn't I tell ya we'd do it?" to Varlamov who was grinning from ear to ear. Good to see a longtime star of the NHL do that to the young goalie. Little scenes like that make NHL playoff hockey the best thing in sports. The Hockey Highlighter congratuates the Caps on a great series.
Now, who do you like in Round 2?
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