Morning Playoff Notes (May 29)

It took a long stretch of days to finally get here and then getting through the theatrics of the Vegas pregame display, we finally had ourselves Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals and what a cracking game it was!

The Capitals and Golden Knights went toe-to-toe and slugged it out like it was the heavyweight fight that Michael Buffer usually kicks off.  It took a few minutes to really get going, but once Colin Miller got the Knights on the board, we were really in for a treat.

The Caps scored a pair of quick goals to take a quick lead, but before the 1st period was out, William Karlsson tallied late in the frame and we went to the break tied 2-2.  Reilly Smith and John Carlson exchanged goals in the 2nd period, which saw it's share of great skating and physical play, and the two teams headed into the 3rd tied 3-3.  Tom Wilson gave the Capitals an early 3rd period lead, but Vegas' tough guy Ryan Reaves tied it up, just over a minute later.

The two sides traded chances back and forth early on in that 3rd period, but midway through, non-pool forward Tomas Nosek broke through with a one-timer tap-in for the Knights to take the lead and they went on to lock the game down.  Marc-Andre Fleury only had to make 9 saves in the 3rd period (24 in total), Nosek added an empty-netter and the game finished 6-4 for the home team, giving them a 1-0 series lead.

If your team isn't in this final, then all you would be hoping for is some good hockey to watch and we got that in spades in Game 1.

For the hockey pool, the victorious Golden Knights didn't offer a great deal in notable players, except for Fleury getting the win Reilly Smith getting a goal and an assist and Deryk Engelland got his first 2 points of the playoffs with a couple of helpers.  On the Washington side, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie both came away with 2 points in the loss and were instrumental in keeping this game as tight as it was.

Game 2 goes on Wednesday night, another 6pm MT start in Vegas.

Brenda's team had the best start to the Finals, picking up 8 points in Game 1, which was good enough to see her team move up to 4th place, ahead of Antonio's team.  Tony's leading team also had a good night, picking up 7 points on opening night and his team now has a 23-point lead atop of the standings, as the gap gets larger and larger.