Robert Griffin III‘s mere presence helped the Wizards beat the Heat. This can’t hurt.
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)
Jason Chimera hasn’t scored a lot of goals this season — so few, in fact, that’s it’s become A Thing. Chimera markers are special occasions to be celebrated– like a John Carlson backcheck. But Thursday, in game one of the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, we got another special occasion.
Just 46 seconds after Marcus Johansson took Steve Oleksy‘s divine saucer pass and put it behind Henrik Lundqvist in the second period, Chimmer added another goal to Washington’s tally. Taking a pass from Mathieu Perreault, the Bald Bullet swept the puck towards the net from the blueline. It seemed as if Chimera was trying to set up a play for Matty P, who by then had parked himself in front of net. Instead, Chimera’s puck trickled lazily past King Henrik.
“He’s had some struggles as far as the regular season goes,” Troy Brouwer said of Chimera. “To see him score early on, get confidence, play well [is good]. He loves helping the team out, he loves playing hockey, and he did a great job tonight.”
Photo credit: Chris Gordon
Steve Oleksy played in 14 playoff games in professional hockey before tonight: with the Idaho Steelheads, the Lake Erie Monsters, and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. He had never played in an NHL postseason game, because, until March of this year, he was little more than an AHL role player.
Thursday though, he set up the game-winning goal in the Washington’s 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers to open up the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. And it was awesome.
Photo credit: Alex Brandon
In the second period of game one, the Washington Capitals looked wobbly, in a one-goal hole and entirely without momentum. Then Aaron Asham checked one of the Caps in the head and Washington went on its fourth power play of the game. That’s when Alex Ovechkin channeled his inner-MVP-ness, scoring his 31st career postseason goal on the power play. It seized back momentum for the Caps, who went on to score two more goals before the period was done. The Caps held on to win 3-1.
With that goal, the Great Eight is Washington’s franchise leader in playoff goals, passing one of my childhood hereos, Peter Bondra.
GIF by welshhockeyfan
Braden Holtby ended New York’s second period shooting flurry in a huff as he snatched the puck away with mucho sass. Srsly, somewhere Beyonce is like, “white boy has got attitude.” Holtby has 23 saves through 40 minutes.
Alex Ovechkin and rap music go together like cheese whiz and nachos. His cameo in Sasha Belyi’s Champion was such a hit with our readers, we had to buy four extra mice to run on those little wheels to power our web servers. And on Wednesday, using Maria Kirilenko’s iPhone, Ovi and his crew put their hoods up and gyrated to Drake’s Started From The Bottom. And here I was thinking we’d have nothing to post during the four-day break.
Brad Marchand is a great hockey player. He has a big heart too. His gutless diving, however, has to stop.
In the third period of the Capitals’ 3-2 overtime win over Boston on Saturday, Marchand dropped to the ice like a piano falling off the top story of the Empire State Building after Alex Ovechkin gave him a friendly slash in the ribs.
It’s becoming a tradition — one that I truly enjoy. When the Caps win in overtime, Mathieu Perreault freaks out like a 5-year-old who has inhaled one of those giant pixie stick straws and starts flailing around erratically. Perry started the celebration thing after a shootout win over Winnipeg, and he did it again after the Caps beat the Islanders. When Eric Fehr scored in OT to give Washington a win in their final game of the regular season, Perreault delivered.
Thanks to @recordsANDradio for first posting.
Earlier in the year, Nicklas Backstrom filmed a bunch of spots for Geico and, as the season progressed, the commercials have been gradually released to the public. In January, Nicky taught us how to score 15 goals in 15 seconds. Then, a month later, he showed off a pretty graphic splinter. Now in April, we’re treated to a lockerroom interaction between Backstrom and the ghost of Lord Stanley.
