Schmidt, Eakin keep focus on Golden Knights for Game 3 against Capitals

WASHINGTON -- Revenge. It had to be revenge they were talking about.

Forward Cody Eakin and defenseman Nate Schmidt had begun their NHL careers with the Washington Capitals, Eakin as a third-round pick (No. 85) in the 2009 NHL Draft, Schmidt as an undrafted free agent signed on April 3, 2013.
The Capitals had traded Eakin to the Dallas Stars on June 22, 2012, and exposed Schmidt in the NHL Expansion Draft on June 21, 2017.
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Now here they were at Capital One Arena on Friday, talking as they led the Vegas Golden Knights in stretching, preparing for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final against their former team here on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS). The best-of-7 series is tied 1-1.
Red rally towels surrounded white rally towels in the shape of the Cup in the center section of the lower bowl. Golden Knights general manager George McPhee, fired as Capitals GM on April 26, 2014, sat in the stands.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, right? Time for some muscle, right?
"We were talking about what we had last night for dinner," Schmidt said, smiling. "We had some good mussels. I was trying to take the guys somewhere nice. It was great. You got to make sure you bring in the local cuisine. You got good seafood here."

Nothing fishy about that.
Eakin and Schmidt aren't going to play into the revenge angle at this point. They aren't going to say anything that might be interpreted as remotely negative about their former team, former town or former rink either.
Capital One Arena can be one of the most raucous in the NHL. "Rock the Red" is more than a slogan. It's a great place to see a game.
It also has been a tense place when things have gone against the Capitals, because the team has had such high expectations and fallen short repeatedly. Until this, the Capitals not only hadn't made the Final since 1998, they hadn't made the Eastern Conference Final, despite outstanding regular-season teams.
The Capitals are 4-5 at home in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, 9-3 on the road. The Golden Knights are 7-2 at home, 6-2 on the road.
"You know that when you inject a little doubt into this building it can spread pretty quickly into the crowd," a reporter asked.
Schmidt laughed uncomfortably.
"I mean, as the opposing team, I'm trying to inject as much doubt as we can," Schmidt said.
He laughed uncomfortably again.
"I don't know if that's self-inflicted or what," he said. "We're going to try and do that, though. I can't speak on what it does to the rink itself. I don't know."
Another reporter reminded Schmidt that he'd said the Capitals could feel the pressure inside the room and asked if the Golden Knights could take advantage of that.
Schmidt gave the perfect answer. The Capitals defeated their nemesis, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the second round to advance to the conference final for the first time in the Alex Ovechkin era.
"I think they've surpassed the part of what their pressure was, getting past the team that they hadn't been able to get past in the last few years," Schmidt said. "And being out of the second round, I think that that's it for them."
None of that should matter much to the Golden Knights in Game 3. What should matter most is doing more of what got them to this point. They didn't manage the puck well, didn't attack enough and were too loose in the first two games -- a 6-4 win in Game 1 and a 3-2 loss in Game 2.
"I think we were a little too spread out," Eakin said. "I think we were trying to play their rush game with them instead of getting the puck in and getting a three-man forecheck. If there's one or two guys on our forecheck, it's not effective. They're pretty good at baiting you in, giving you time, then taking it away. So it's just working on our three-man forecheck and playing together."

They've got to tune out all the hoopla -- the media, the Sting and Shaggy performance on the steps of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery -- and be as normal as possible. Talk about seafood. Focus on the game. Simplify.
"Our team does a really great job of not letting the game get too big for us," Schmidt said. "Yes, every game in the Stanley Cup Final you want to say is a must-win game. But at the same time, our guys are great at being able to put aside the pressure, put aside what they need to do that night and just go out and play and be loose up here.
"That's the biggest thing, is making sure your mind is sharp in some areas but kind of let yourself relax and understand it's just the game you've been playing for your whole life. It's just a little bit of raised stakes."
Done right, raised stakes are delicious.