First Star: Braden Holtby. Kind of misplayed the goal, giving too much of the post on the tip, but c’mon. After his stretch of four-goal games he’s come back strong again and got some help from his defense in this one. If this Caps team can remember to play defense down the stretch and into the first round, they could scare or surprise someone. If they don’t, they’ll be watching again from the outside.
Second Star: Alex Ovechkin. Eight shots on goal, five hits, 25:18 TOI including a four-plus minute shift in the second. Russian Machine.
Third Star: Marcus Johansson. Three shots on goal but was in the play, especially in the third period. I thought he did nice job of trying to carry the puck and create.
About Dave Nichols