Offsides

It's 730 PM on Thursday night. The Washington Capitals are playing against the Carolina Hurricanes in game 5 of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it's do or die time. The Canes lead this series 3-1 so this is an elimination game for the Caps. The score is 1-0 in the first period, not in our favor. 

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It's never over until it's over. Just ask Lenny Kravitz. We just scored an ugly haphazard goal but it was good, and we'll take it. We have ourselves a game right now. 

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Well, that ugly goal was their only goal after a second goal was overturned on an offsides call. I’m not good at spotting an offsides goal at full speed but the replay on this one was pretty clear. The Carolina Hurricanes will play the winners of the Maple Leafs - Panthers series for the Conference championship and a chance at the Stanley Cup. And the Capitals will clean out their lockers and go home for the summer. 

It was the Capitals’ 50th anniversary season, and it would have been nice for it to end with another Stanley Cup or at least a longer playoff run. But I did get to watch Alex Ovechkin surpass Wayne Gretsky’s record to become the NHL’s all-time high scorer, and they played amazing hockey this year, and they made it past the first round for the first time since 2018. A winning season all around. Now I’m all in for Canada. As much as it would pain me to root for the Oilers or the Jets, I’ll take either of those teams over any of the remaining American teams. I’m hoping that the Maple Leafs will finally do it. Toronto hasn’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967, meaning that most Maple Leafs fans living today have either never seen their team win the championship, or they were too young to remember it. It’s their turn. Go Leafs.