Capitals vs. Lightning Game 7: Full highlights, final score and more

The Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning did battle in Game 7 for the honor of facing the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final. Full highlights and recap of the Capitals’ win below.

Any Game 7 in the playoffs is special, but this one felt even more so. In what has been the deepest playoff run of his career, Alex Ovechkin had a chance to take it one step further by bringing the Washington Capitals to their first Cup Final in 20 years.

As for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the last time they played in a conference final, they went to seven games with the Pittsburgh Penguins and lost. Odds are, they haven’t forgotten about it.

With this series being as evenly matched as it has, it was always going to go seven. And if you needed an indication of how hungry Ovechkin was, he let everyone know by scoring on a rocket of a shot just a minute in. It was one of the fastest goals to start a Game 7 in NHL history:

The Capitals’ dream start, though, soon turned ugly when Devante Smith-Pelly had to get taken to the dressing room after blocking a shot. That ugly scene, combined with some fights, highlighted what was a chippy first period.

The second period began with one of the worst misses you’ll ever see. Yanni (and not Laurel) Gourde probably saw Draymond Green’s missed dunk last night and told him to hold his beer. Andre Burakovsky made him pay for it by corralling a puck that bounced off Dan Girardi and making it 2-0. He then paid back Cedric Paquette’s dangerous hit on Brooks Orpik by making it 3-0 on a breakaway.

By the third period, it was academic, as the Lightning didn’t register their first shot on goal until there were nine minutes left. The Capitals are off to the Cup Final, and you’ve got to wonder if the Vegas Golden Knights are smiling over all the rest they’ve earned or terrified of what their opponents are capable of.

Three Stars

Alex Ovechkin: R.I.P. Ovechkin playoff jokes. They were fun while they lasted. Not only is Ovechkin headed to his first Cup Final as the presumptive Conn Smythe favorite on his team, he has a series-clinching goal to boot. His first period tally gave him 58 playoff goals since 2008, which is by far the best goals per game in that timeframe.

Andre Burakovsky: Part of what has made this Capitals playoff run so special is that numerous contributors have stepped up. Evgeny Kuznetsov eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins and leads his team in points. T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom teamed up to stave off elimination in Game 6. And now Burakovsky picked Game 7 of the conference finals to score his first two goals of the playoffs. Couldn’t have picked a better time to be a hero.

Braden Holtby: He proved why he was the man for the moment once again by picking up his second straight shutout. While he faced a heavy workload through the first two periods, he hardly broke a sweat during the third when the Lightning went more than half of it without a shot on goal. Marc-Andre Fleury has been far and away the best goalie of these playoffs, but Holtby is a worthy adversary and seeing them renew hostilities will be one of the best storylines of the Cup Final.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/NHLonNBCSports/status/999444932707475457

Next Game

The Capitals will meet the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on May 28.

Next: 10 reasons Stanley Cup Playoffs are better than NBA Playoffs

For more from the NHL playoffs, make sure to follow FanSided and stay tuned to our NHL hub for all the latest news and results.