#CapsBolts Skate Shavings: Hockey 101

It's one game, one game for the right to keep playing for one more round, the round that matters most. The Caps play their 101st game of the season tonight in Tampa when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final series. The winner of Wednesday's game moves on to the Stanley Cup final to face the Vegas Golden Knights beginning on Monday.

The Caps got here by winning their 100th game of the season two nights ago in Washington. That 3-0 Game 6 triumph kept their season alive and also pushed the Lightning to the precipice for the first time this spring.

"This is what, Game 101 for us?" says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "So we've had 101 opportunities to get this right. There is nothing you can say. Everybody knows what we've got to do. We've talked about it all year, we've harped on it, and these two teams are good teams. They know what needs to get done."

Wednesday's Game 7 marks the fourth straight spring in which the Eastern Conference final series has gone the distance. A Game 7 is a wonderful sports experience, but when you have a serious rooting interest with one of the participants, it can also provoke varying levels of anxiety and stress.

The Caps have plenty of Game 7 experience; tonight's is the 16thin franchise history, and the team's 11thsince the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. No other team in the league has had as many Game 7 experiences as Washington over these last 11 Stanley Cup playoffs.

"I think guys are focused," says Trotz. "We're not thinking about anything else but the game and being prepared. You don't have to walk around and squeeze your stick the whole time, or consume yourself and use your energy. Use your energy tonight. Have good energy, use your energy tonight, and bring it. That's, I think, our message. We've earned the right to play this long and we're going to try our best to earn the right to keep playing.

"I think everybody recognizes the importance of the game. It's a great opportunity not only for our team, but for the other team. It's just a great opportunity to be part of an experience that only 40 players and two organizations and coaching staffs ore going to have today. And you're going to just leave everything out there. And if you do that, you won't have any regrets, no matter what."

Sure, it's Game 7. But it's still hockey, and nothing is different with the size of the rink or the shape of the puck or anything like that. It's just that the stakes are much, much higher than most of those 100 games that came before this one. So when does it stop feeling like a Game 7?

"To be honest, at puck drop," says Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "I don't know how it is for the Caps, but usually the nerves are building up but as soon as the clock starts ticking, usually everybody is pretty focused. That's what I've found personally for myself as well. Once it's game on, you're just dialed into the game. You're really not even thinking of the magnitude of the game. You just coach the game the way you would any other one - to win. That's it."

After 100 games, it all comes down to tonight for the Capitals. A victory sends them to the desert to face Vegas in the Cup final next week.

"It's the same situation for both teams," says Caps defenseman Brooks Orpik. "I can't speak for [the Lightning], but I think everybody in this locker room would take this opportunity if it was presented at the beginning of the year. I think everyone is pretty excited, and hopefully we do something good with the opportunity that we have."

This One Goes To Eleven -Caps teammates Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom will skate in their 11thGame 7 together on Wednesday night in Tampa. Despite the Caps never scoring more than two goals in any of those 10 games, Ovechkin and Backstrom have found themselves on the winning side three times, all in the first round. The Caps ousted the New York Rangers in 2009, beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins on the road in 2012 and took out the New York Islanders in 2015. All three of those victories came by the same 2-1 score, and two of their seven losses were also 2-1 games, one of them in overtime.

Washington has scored just 13 goals in those 10 Game 7 situations during the Ovechkin/Backstrom era. The goaltending has often been good enough to advance, but the Caps' offense hasn't been able to provide sufficient support. Even going back further than the last 10 Game 7s, the Caps have managed a grand total of 23 goals in the 15 Game 7s in which they've played. Only once - in a 5-4 win over Philadelphia in 1988 - have the Caps managed to score more than two goals in any Game 7.

Tonight, the Caps' dynamic duo is on the verge of reaching the Cup final for the first time in their respective careers. They've been at it for more than a decade, and they've never been this close before.

"I think both teams have the experience to play those games," says Ovechkin. "It's going to be hard, it's going to be interesting and it's going to be fun. You play hockey because of these moments. It's one game, that's it. Everything is on the line."

Among active NHL players, only Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara (12) has played in ore Game 7s than Backstrom and Ovechkin. In addition to Chara, only five other players in league history have appeared in more Game 7s than Washington's dynamic duo: Patrick Roy and Scott Stevens (13), and Glenn Anderson, Ken Daneyko and Stephane Yelle (12).

The 10 Game 7s played by Backstrom and Ovechkin as teammates is the most by any two teammates in NHL history. In 22 career games when the Capitals have faced elimination, Ovechkin has registered 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) and Backstrom has recorded 18 points (5 goals, 13 assists).

Learning From Past Experience - Much has been said and written about the Caps' journey to this point this season, and a lot of it relates to letting go of - but also learning from - previous failures, exorcising demons, conquering hurdles and moving forward. Washington's most recent Game 7 experience - a 2-0 loss to the Penguins on home ice in Game 7 of the second round on may 10 of last year - provides another of those learning experiences.

Just to earn the right to play that Game 7, the Caps had to defeat the Penguins in Pittsburgh in Game 6. Washington accomplished that task with aplomb, turning in a dominant performance in a 5-2 win over the Pens. The thoroughness and physicality of the Caps' performance in Game 6 sent them into Game 7 with plenty of confidence.

Alas, that Game 7 turned out like most before it. The Caps came out like a house of fire, picking up where they'd left off in Game 6 and dominating Pittsburgh. What the Caps didn't do during that dominant stretch was score. They didn't do that at any point of the game, and were once again finished for the season much earlier than they'd hoped.

Monday night's Game 6 win over the Lightning gave the Caps the opportunity they have before them tonight. They earned it with a dominant and extremely physical performance over Tampa Bay, not at all unlike the one they put forth against the Pens in Game 6 just over a year ago.

This time around, the hope is that they'll keep the pedal to the metal for more of Game 7, and that they'll find a way to finish enough of those chances to deliver a better result.

"I'm not sure what happened last year," says Orpik. "This a different group here this year. I'm not a guy who believes in momentum carrying over from game to game, but I think we need some of the physical play. Hopefully that, over the course of seven games takes its toll on their guys and maybe that adds up a little bit - who knows? But I think once you get to a Game 7 a lot of adrenaline takes over for everybody and I think a lot of that stuff, you can mask that for two or three hours."

"We've had offense throughout our whole lineup for the whole playoffs," says Caps winger Brett Connolly, who has supplied four goals in the 2018 playoffs. "We're going to need some guys to step up tonight, obviously. Anytime you can get some bottom six scoring and take that weight off the guys in the top six and some of the guys who are doing it consistently every night, it's obviously a big plus for our group. So hopefully we can chip in with some timely goals here."

In The Nets - Braden Holtby starts for the 17thtime in Washington's 19 games this spring. Holtby comes in with an 11-6-record in the playoffs, and with an 11-5 mark as a starter. He has a 2.16 GAA and a .919 save pct. in the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, and he has one shutout, a 3-0 whitewashing of the Bolts just two nights ago in Washington's must-win Game 6.

Wednesday night's game will be Holtby's seventh career start in a Game 7. He has permitted two or fewer goals against in five of those six contests, but has just a 2-4 record to show for his 2.10 GAA and .923 career save pct. in Game 7 situations. Each of his last three Game 7 appearances have occurred in the Trotz era, and Holtby is 1-2 in those three contests despite allowing an aggregate total of just five goals against in those three starts.

"I think our game doesn't change as much as everyone else's," says Holtby, offering the perspective of a goaltender getting ready for a Game 7 as opposed to that of a skater. "We've still got to stop the puck. Obviously it's a fast pace, and it's more challenging mentally and that's what makes it fun - that's what makes the playoffs fun. But in terms of physicality or anything like that, it doesn't affect goaltenders as much as everyone else. You build your whole game around trying to feel your best every night, and that's no different in the playoffs."

Andrei Vasilevskiy is in goal for the Lightning for Game 7, the second Game 7 of his Stanley Cup career. In a losing effort, Vasilevskiy stopped 37 of 39 shots he faced in his first Game 7, almost two years ago against the Pens in Pittsburgh in the 2016 ECF.

Vasilevskiy owns an 11-5 record in the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs with a 2.55 GAA and a .920 save pct. Since surrendering 10 goals in his first five periods of work in this series, he has limited Washington to eight goals on 139 shots (.942 save pct.) in the last four games. Vasilevskiy stole Game 4 of this series in Washington, and only a perfect performance from Holtby prevented him from doing so again in Game 6. He has been at his best for several games now.

All Lined Up -Here is how we expect the Caps and the Lightning to look when they take the ice for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final series on Wednesday night at Amalie Arena:

WASHINGTONForwards

8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson

13-Vrana, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie

65-Burakovsky, 20-Eller, 10-Connolly

18-Stephenson, 83-Beagle, 25-Smith-Pelly

Defensemen

6-Kempny, 74-Carlson

9-Orlov, 2-Niskanen

44-Orpik, 29-Djoos

Goaltenders

70-Holtby

31-Grubauer

Scratches

1-Copley

22-Bowey

28-Jerabek

39-Chiasson

63-Gersich

72-Boyd

79-Walker

Injured

None

TAMPA BAYForwards

18-Palat, 91-Stamkos, 86-Kucherov

37-Gourd, 21-Point, 9-Johnson

17-Killorn, 71-Cirelli, 10-Miller

14-Kunitz, 13-Paquette, 24-Callahan

Defensemen

77-Hedman, 5-Girardi

27-McDonagh, 6-Stralman

55-Coburn, 98-Sergachev

Goaltenders

88-Vasilevskiy

70-Domingue

Scratches

29-Koekkoek

59-Dotchin

62-Sustr

89-Conacher

Injuries

73-Erne (lower body)