"Big time players step up in big time games" is an adage used to describe these types of situations.
The Capitals have established players who stepped up, especially after falling in the series 3-2 when the team started 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Washington regrouped, rebounded, and persevered.
The Lightning don't have the elite-level player. No one with that killer instinct. No one to motivate urgency.
Don't kid yourselves, Bolts' Fans, this one was over in Game 6 - not 7. Washington was more physical and inspired with its back against the wall, and it proved its worth shutting Tampa out 3-0 because Braden Holtby, a former Vezina Trophy recipient, played lights out.
He did the same thing last night and now has 159 scoreless minutes against the Lightning on 53 saves.
That's big time.
The defense in front of him blocked shots and leveled every Lightning player on the ice.
Truth is, Tampa wanted nothing to do with it. Fear set in, and no one became the emergent hero the Bolts desperately needed. No St. Louis. No Lecavalier.
Just Holtby.
Oh, you thought I was going to mention Ovechkin? No one can deny his presence - not just offensively, but making crucial plays on the defensive zone, too.
Kuznetzov, Burakovsky, and even the dirtiest of scum bags, Tom Wilson, was laying hits and creating turnovers.
Where was Stamkos? Kucherov? Where was the team that scored 290 goals during the regular season?
The regular season... Perhaps that's all Tampa's good at because the "hump" stigma Ovechkin has fought his entire career is officially on Stamkos and the Bolts.
Tremendous regular-season players. Choke artists in the playoffs. Three out of the last four Eastern Conference Finals appearances. Zero Stanley Cups to show for it.
Heck, Stamkos has yet to earn a single Game 7 point during his 10-year career.
I wonder when those memes will begin to surface because the whispers aren't far behind?
This one's not on Vasilevskiy or Jon Cooper. The Big Cat made some highlight-reel saves and kept the Lighting in it, and Cooper can't go out on the ice and score. The game plan was there and it wasn't executed.
Does this team need an overhaul? No, but it would help to get a little bigger and tougher. It'll be difficult to sign anyone this off season considering the Bolts are already pressed for cap space and J.T. Miller will be a restricted free agent - who is a must-sign.
Will Kucherov be trade bait if the Lightning have an average 2019? A trade like that could easily bring in an elite defender/player.
Losses like these create a ton of questions, none of which will be answered today or tomorrow. It'll stew with the fans throughout the long summer months.
Who is the Lightning's "big time" player(s)?
I don't know.
