Oshie, Niskanen ride Metro with Capitals fans to Game 3 of Cup Final

ARLINGTON, Va. -- After hearing about road closures and potential traffic problems getting to Capital One Arena for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday, Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie and defenseman Matt Niskanen decided to take the Metro.
That gave them the opportunity to get the full fan experience riding in from Virginia for the Capitals' 3-1 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights, which gave them a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.

RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Capitals series coverage]
Game 4 is in Washington on Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"We figured it might be tough to get to the game (driving)," Oshie said Sunday. "Some of the guys said it was actually the fastest they've ever gotten there, but we decided to take the train if there was going to be traffic just to make it easy on us."
Although Niskanen and Oshie might not need to purchase SmarTrip frequent-user cards anytime soon, they seemed to enjoy riding among the fans to the Capitals' first home game in a Stanley Cup Final since 1998.
Oshie, who is in his third season with the Capitals, said Niskanen, playing his fourth season in Washington, is the more experienced Metro rider among the two.
"[Niskanen] has done it a couple more times than me," he said. "That was actually my first one to the game."
Niskanen didn't want to give away the details of their trip, but said they can take the Orange or Silver Line from Virginia.
"There's a stop somewhat near our house," Niskanen said.
They had to get off at the Metro Center station and transfer to the Red Line before taking that one stop to the Gallery Place-Chinatown station, where Capital One Arena is located. The closer Oshie and Niskanen got to the arena, the more red-clad Capitals fans boarded.

"It was cool to see," Oshie said. "Some TV (network) or someone was doing some type of simulated Caps march and we happened to be walking right behind the march, so we might be in some type of pump-up video or something. But it was cool. It was fun. A different way.
"I had never gone that way before. Pretty simple to ride in."
Niskanen and Oshie said they haven't discussed yet whether they will take the Metro again for Game 4. It worked out well for them and the Capitals, so they might not want to risk changing their routine.
"It was great," Oshie said. "It was actually really easy for us to get down there. The fans seemed very excited, but were also respectful and just wished us luck along the way."