Squeaker by the bay

The Caps played their best game of the series today. They worked hard from top to bottom, weren't intimidated, and kept trying to win the game (as opposed to trying not to lose it).

Through that, they managed to never trail in the game, taking 2-0, 3-2, and 4-3 leads. And the only time they stopped trying to score was in the last minute and a half (after scoring that fourth goal). There was a lot of hitting in the game, which Boston led pretty handily, but it never got the Caps to back down.

This was the first game where the Caps looked like they could legitimately win (ie: with merely good goaltending), and, in fact, that is how they won. Shots were still 37-32 in Boston's favor (and really a bit worse than that, due to blocked shots), but I would bet scoring chances were even closer.

Hendricks had another very good game, good Sasha made another appearance, and Knuble even scored a goal (though I still would have sat him in favor of Perreault). OV was also looking quite dangerous again (and should have played quite a bit more than fifteen and a half minutes), even if he didn't factor into any of the goals.

And Holtby wasn't nearly as good as last game (not that he was expected to be), but still looked very good. He also had one absolutely jaw-dropping save where he had to go all the way across the goalmouth, and was still able to get his toe on the shot. I'm really not sure how he got across that fast, but no complaints.

So the Caps get a chance to close out the series tomorrow at home; let's hope they don't mail it in, because I guarantee Boston will not. And let's hope Holtby doesn't have his worst game of the series, because even today they still needed him to be excellent.

Which reminds me... I heard there's at least a small chance Neuvy is ready to start tomorrow. I don't think he will, even if he's "ready", but it's possible. It wouldn't make me scratch my head more than any of half a dozen other personnel decisions by Hunter in this series.

Update: I forgot to mention that Beagle also had an excellent game, getting a turnover and shooting for the Caps' second goal for the punctuation on his performance.