T.J. Oshie stepped to the microphone and apologized for his voice.It was hoarse from days and nights of celebrating the Washington Capitals‘
Stanley Cup triumph and fans now had gathered on the National Mall after the
championship parade. Oshie had enough left to start a chant among the tens of
thousands of fans: “Back-to-back! Back-to-back!”With a full voice and the
shortest summer of his career behind him
Arizona Coyotes Hats Authentic , Oshie hasn’t changed his tune that the Capitals can repeat.“If we continue with our style of play and everyone chips in like we did,
I think we have a really good chance,” Oshie said. “I know the odds are against
us, we had a short summer, everyone else has a couple more months of training on
them. But we still have all the pieces.”Even though the Pittsburgh Penguins went
back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, the odds are against Washington repeating despite
bringing back an almost identical roster from last year’s run. What the Capitals
showed teams gunning for the Cup in 2019 is how a championship window is never
closed as long you make the playoffs. The Penguins , Boston and Tampa Bay in the
Eastern Conference, and the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues in the West,
take note: Previous postseason success and failure is little indication of
what’ll happen next.“They don’t give up after a lot of tough years,” Blues
winger Vladimir Tarasenko said of the Caps. “They work on their game, play hard
and finally reach their goal. This is really good example for us. I think that’s
what we need to try to do.”The race to the playoffs begins with the Capitals and
Vegas Golden Knights not favored to make it back to the Cup Final, Sidney Crosby
ready to take back the trophy he has hoisted three times
Custom Arizona Coyotes Jerseys , Connor McDavid looking to lift the Oilers back into contention and an influx of talent in the West again threatening to make
this spring another heavyweight rumble.San Jose added two-time Norris
Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson, St. Louis traded for center Ryan
O’Reilly and Minnesota changed general managers to take another run at an
elusive title. Tampa Bay kept its deep core together, Boston is hoping for
better health and Pittsburgh is loading up for another shot with Crosby eager to
one-up career rival Alex Ovechkin again.“He’s very determined this year,” said
Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, who like Crosby is a native of Cole Harbour, Nova
Scotia. “With the Penguins, it’s Stanley Cup or nothing for them. … They have a
great team. But Sid’s their leader. Sid’s the best player in the world and he’s
ready, for sure.”The Capitals’ run through the playoffs mirrored the Penguins’
three championships over the past decade in that they were built on stellar
goaltending and center depth. Like Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and a host of
third-line centers, Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and Lars
Eller showed they could match up against anyone and control games at home and on
the road.“They were pretty deep, obviously
www.officialbruinsproonline.com , in the middle — or anywhere, really,” Bruins center Patrice Bergeron said.
“Obviously the center position I think is something that has a lot of impact in
different ways in the game.”The Blues can now go down the middle with O’Reilly,
Brayden Schenn and Tyler Bozak, and the Maple Leafs’ signing of John Tavares
gives them a 1-2-3 punch of the former Islanders captain, Auston Matthews and
Nazem Kadri.Matthews, Kadri and the Maple Leafs pushed Washington to six games
before losing in the first round in 2017 but now have the horses to contend with
anyone in the league. With Cup expectations hovering over the center of the
hockey universe, the Capitals’ years of playoff roadblocks and eventually
breaking through make for another important lesson for the Maple Leafs.“That’s
really how hard it is,” Matthews said. “It’s not easy. It’s not just a walk in
the park. Just because we added John Tavares doesn’t mean it’s going to be a
walk in the park for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs. We still got to
get there and no matter who you’re playing, it’s going to be a battle.”One
battle the Capitals now face is trying to avoid any kind of Stanley Cup
hangover, which either manifests as a slow start or a rough patch once the
adrenaline wears off this fall. Jonathan Toews, who led the Blackhawks to the
Cup in 2010
Boston Bruins T-Shirts Authentic , 2013 and 2015 said: “It’s not really my problem. That’s up to them to figure out.”Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury,
who went through the Capitals to help the Penguins win it all in 2009, 2016 and
2017, also isn’t in the business of giving Washington advice, but he remembers
it being an uphill climb.“Every time I went to the Final, next (season) the
first couple months were a little rough,” Fleury said. “It’s just trying to
forget about the past as quickly as possible. … The parity’s so good around the
league that the playoff race is very intense down the stretch, so you need those
points early in the season to help you out.”Parity is reality in a league that
has featured a turnover of seven of 16 playoff teams each of the past two years.
Getting in really is half the battle for everyone, and especially the Capitals
with the mental challenge of gearing back up after winning it all.“The guys go
through such a grind to win a championship, and they know how much they’ve
exerted,” said Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour, who was captain of the Hurricanes
when they won the Cup in 2006 and missed the playoffs in 2007. “The physical
part is not the issue. It’s mentally getting ready to battle it up again and rev
it up. … If you can figure that out
Boston Bruins Hoodies Authentic , then I think you have a chance to win a few Cups in a row.” ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Something seems to click for Brad
Marchand in overtime.The Bruins forward entered Sunday night’s game with four
overtime goals this season. He added to that total to lift his team yet
again.Marchand scored 28 seconds into overtime for his league-leading fifth
overtime goal and a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.”Overtime specifically,
especially this month, he’s sure come through for us,” Bruins coach Bruce
Cassidy said. ”But he’s an elite player so we expect him to get his looks every
night because he’s hard on the puck and a heck of a competitor, so it doesn’t
surprise me.”Tuukka Rask made 24 saves and David Pastrnak also scored for the
Bruins, who improved to 47-17-10.Marchand’s winner came after a pass off the
boards by Torey Krug gave Marchand a shot at the net from the left faceoff
circle. Wild defenseman Matt Dumba got turned around on the play and couldn’t
catch up with Marchand.”You need a lot of things to go right but sometimes you
benefit from plays, sometimes you don’t,” Marchand said. ”I think this year I’ve
been playing with a lot of guys who are making good plays and I’m benefiting
from that.”Marchand got his second goal in two games and his third in a
four-game span. His 33rd of the season was his eighth game-winner, tying a
career high. Marchand also assisted on the Bruins’ first goal.Boston appeared to
score first when Noel Acciari found the back of the net early in the second
period. However, the goal was waved off after officials reviewed it and ruled
that Boston’s Riley Nash ran into goalie Alex Stalock.Just over a minute later,
the Bruins beat Stalock on one that counted. Pastrnak notched his 30th of the
season – and second in two games – when his one-timer on a feed from Patrice
Bergeron sailed past Stalock.Bergeron’s assist came in his first game back after
missing a month with a fractured foot. The center last played on Feb. 25. He
also assisted on Marchand’s goal.”It’s always getting the legs and the timing
and the execution back
Boston Bruins Hats Authentic ,” Bergeron said. ”I felt like it was getting better as the game went on.”Minnesota thought it had the tying goal later in the
second, but a whistle sounded before Jason Zucker poked the puck past Rask. A
replay also showed the puck under Rask’s pad may have crossed the goal line, but
a review determined the play was blown dead before the goal.”You knew the puck
was over the line,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. ”It’s just a question when
did it go over the line.”Rask had a number of key saves in the first two
periods, including a stop of Zach Parise on a short-handed chance and on a
backhand shot by Marcus Foligno to preserve the one-goal lead.The Wild broke
through midway through the third. Captain Mikko Koivu scored his 14th goal when
he collected a rebound from Matt Dumba’s shot off the end boards and tucked it
between Rask and the post.It was Koivu’s second goal in a 10-game
stretch.Minnesota has earned a point in five straight games.Stalock got the
start in net after Devan Dubnyk started Saturday’s win against Nashville.
Stalock made 26 saves and fell to 10-11-2.”It was a playoff team again tonight
so I think we see how tight games are going to be,” Stalock said. ”It’s a bounce
here or there. That’s the difference.”NOTES: Members of the Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School hockey team from Parkland, Florida, were in attendance and
did the ”Let’s Play Hockey” introduction. They were in town for the USA Hockey
National Championship High School tournament. … Several players from the gold
medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team took part in a ceremonial puck drop.UP
NEXTBruins: At Winnipeg on Tuesday night.Wild: At Nashville on Tuesday
night.—
