Washington caps playoff game

They play in the Metropolitan division of the Eastern Conference. The Caps played their first official game at the beginning of the NHL season on October 9th, vs the New York Rangers, and lost that matchup It would be the beginning of a long losing season as the Capitals were only able to win 8 games that the first year and finished the season with an record and failed to make the playoffs.

The losing trend would continue for the next 7 seasons, it wasn't until their 9th year in the league that the Caps were able to finish with a winning record. That came in the season when the team finished with a 39 and qualified for their first Staley Cup Playoffs birth.

Although Washington would lose in the playoffs in the 1st round to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers that year, the arrow was pointing up for the franchise and they ended up making the playoffs for 14 years straight, from The Caps were definitely on a roll with their 14 straight playoff appearances, a streak that would end in the season.

After missing the playoffs that year, the team was right back at it for the season as they finished and made their deepest playoff run at the time by making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. All in all, Washington has managed to make the playoffs 30 times as a franchise, making it to the Stanley Cup finals 2 times and winning 1 Stanley Cup Championship.

The Washington Capitals have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals a total of two times in their franchise history. It would take another 19 seasons to make the Stanley Cup Finals again, but this time the Caps were not Going home without the Cup.

The Washington Capitals were a talented bunch that finished the regular season with a record. The team was led by Left Wing Alex Ovechkin, who finished the season with 87 points, and Center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who finished the season with 83 points. After 3 straight years of being knocked out of the playoffs in the 2nd round, the Capitals were about to go on a run that their fans had been waiting 43 years for. The Capitals led until of the second period when Carl Hagelin made an ill-advised pass on a delayed penalty.

With Washington goalie Zach Fucale already headed to the bench for the extra attacker, Hagelin's pass went almost the length of the ice and found the Capitals' empty net. With their lead reduced to one goal, the Capitals nearly held on before Minnesota's Mats Zuccarello scored the equalizer with 35 seconds remaining in regulation.

You talk about the first goal, and then they tie it up at the end and win in a shootout, so it leaves you with a really lousy taste in your mouth. Washington is on its second three-game winless streak of the season, although the Capitals have yet to lose consecutive games in regulation. Since the Wild's first goal didn't count against Fucale, the rookie goaltender entered the NHL 's record books for the longest goal-less streak to begin a career.

Fucale didn't allow a score over his first minutes and 7 seconds of ice time before Zuccarello's tally. Then came the second period. With strong goaltending by both teams, the score remained in favor of Washington throughout the final period.

It seemed as though the Caps would win this one, but with five minutes remaining, Islanders legend Bryan Trottier got the equalizer. Now came the overtime and whoever scored would automatically win the series. Good scoring chances came along the way, but there was no joy for either team.

Miraculously, after seconds of overtime play, Pat LaFontaine of the Islanders brought the game to an end. He hammered the game-winning goal from near the blue line, earning the comeback for the Isles. In the end, the season was a disappointment for the Caps and the longest game in team history was yet to come. Nine years later, in , Washington had another postseason game end after four overtime periods.

This time, the team played of overtime, almost 11 minutes longer than the Easter Epic. The Jets stumbled to the finish, and were bludgeoned by the Oilers in the regular season, losing seven of nine games and being outscored by 13 goals in total. Series preview. Game 2 : St. Louis Blues at Colorado Avalanche p. ET Avs lead If it wasn't for [ Jordan Binnington ], it could have been messy early.

Louis couldn't keep up with the Avs' team speed. The Blues need to be more aggressive on the forecheck to keep the Avs on their toes. As for Colorado? If the Avs can pick up where they left off -- with an edge in shots in the third period of Game 1 -- they'll be just fine.

Pittsburgh Penguins 2, New York Islanders 1 series tied The Penguins did something they hadn't done since their Stanley Cup clincher in Nashville: win a playoff game when Sidney Crosby has zero points snapping a six-game losing streak.

Pittsburgh opened the scoring less than four minutes in, but the Islanders had more high-danger chances in both the first period and second However, goalie Tristan Jarry , bouncing back from a shaky Game 1 performance, kept the Penguins afloat by making key saves on the Islanders' only power play of the game -- which was in the final 90 seconds.

Semyon Varlamov , who was unavailable in Game 1, overcame an early gaffe to make 43 saves for the Isles. Full recap. Coach Joel Quenneville opted for Chris Driedger over Sergei Bobrovsky in goal, the latter of whom stopped 35 of 40 shots in the opener. Driedger was solid in his first playoff appearance since he was in juniors seven years ago, stopping 26 of 28 shots.

But this one was all about Tampa Bay. Steven Stamkos opened the scoring less than five minutes in, and an Ondrej Palat goal gave Tampa Bay a lead after the first. Here's the obligatory mention that over the past five years, teams that took a series lead in a best-of-seven series by winning both games on the road have won 22 of 23 series. Vegas Golden Knights 3, Minnesota Wild 1 series tied Marc-Andre Fleury started for the second straight game.

Eventually, Robin Lehner should work into the rotation, but why not ride the hot hand? A running storyline was Fleury not getting offensive support. In his previous two playoff starts dating back to last season he stopped 53 of 55 shots.