Capitals vs. Golden Knights: Caps win first Stanley Cup Final home game

The Washington Capitals haven’t had much success at home this postseason, but beat the Las Vegas Golden Knights to take a 2-1 series lead.

For the first time this series, nobody scored in the first period. But it wasn’t for lack of chances. Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin had the first three scoring chances of the game for either team, including an odd-man rush with Evgeny Kuznetsov that Marc-Andre Fluery had to come up big on.

The Vegas Golden Knights might have had some chances if not for the 15 blocked shots the Caps recorded in the first period. That and the two shots that went off the post for the Golden Knights. The Caps thought they had an early goal, but it was waved off by a goaltender interference penalty on Devante Smith-Pelly.

The Caps controlled the first period leading in shots, hits, faceoff wins and of course blocked shots. You know what they say, the puck finds goalscorers, and it found Alex Ovechkin early in the second period. It only took about six chances during a wild scramble in front of the Golden Knights net, but he eventually buried a back hander for his 12th goal of the postseason.

The Knights have made a bad habit of giving up way too many odd-man rushes this series. You give a team like the Capitals too many chances, they’ll eventually capitalize, and that’s what happened in the second period. A 3-on-1 odd-man rush led to an Evgeny Kuznestov goal.

It had been pretty much smooth sailing for the Caps until Braden Holtby made a rare mistake. Instead of just circling a puck around the boards he tried to clear it into the middle of the ice. As you may be able guess, you should never clear it to the middle, and it cost them a goal early in the third period.

The Caps came right back, and pushed their lead back to two goals thanks to Devante Smith-Pelly who capitalized on some outstanding hustle by Jay Beagle. In order to score in hockey you have to get pucks to the net, and the Golden Knights just couldn’t do that.

They had shots blocked, whiffed on chances and shot pucks wide. The Knights had 44 percent of their shots blocked after two periods of play, and only put 22 percent of their slot shots on net after the first period.

Highlights

Next: How the Capitals spent two hours on the airport runway

Three stars

Jay Beagle: Jay Beagle was the main reason the Caps ended up with a two-goal victory in Game 3. He ended with two primary assists and a blocked shot. The second primary assist was the one that gave the Capitals a 3-1 lead late in the third period.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: There was actually a question as to whether or not Kuznetsov would play in Game 3. He was a game-time decision coming in, but he did indeed play and he came through for the Caps. He finished with a goal and an assist, and it also helps that he won 71 percent of his faceoffs.

Braden Holtby: He had a much better Game 2 performance, including the save heard around the world. He should have had a shutout in Game 3 if not for a ridiculous blunder early in the third period. Either way, 21 saves on 22 shots is good for a .955 save percentage, and a Game 3 victory for the Caps, who now lead the series 2-1.

Next Game

These two teams will be back in D.C. for Game 4 on Monday, June 4, at 8 p.m. ET.