The Washington Capitals will play for a Stanley Cup championship Thursday night for the first time in 43 NHL seasons. Alex Ovechkin is one win away from carving his name into history at the peak of his incredible hockey career.
With a 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final and a city thousands of miles away thirsting for its first championship in a generation
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Ovi still wants his teammates thinking about the Golden Knights, not that silver trophy.
”To be honest, I think most of us have never been in this position,” said Ovechkin, who could become the first Russian captain to raise the Cup. ”For me personally, I don’t try to think about it too much what’s going on and just try focusing on different things. But it’s hard.”
Exactly what could distract an athlete of Ovechkin’s magnitude from the imminent chance to validate his place in his sport?
”Whatever. Cars. Hotels. You know, Vegas.”
Indeed, this desert is a strange place to end a drought. But with three chances to get one win, Ovechkin and his teammates want to seize their very first opportunity for the clincher on the Las Vegas ice.
With one more victory, Ovechkin would finally have team success to complement his formidable individual accomplishments. The vaunted goal-scorer can also succeed where a generation of Washington athletes have fallen short by leading the Capitals to their first title and the city’s first major pro sports championship in a quarter-century.
With his 33rd birthday looming in the fall, Ovechkin understands the opportunity before him and the magnitude of the situation for everyone who has ever worn the Capitals’ jersey.
It’s enough to tighten anybody’s grip on the stick, but the Caps didn’t appear overly tight during their workout or in the dressing room afterward.
”It’s a great time,” Ovechkin said Wednesday. ”Probably the best time in my life, hockey-wise. We just enjoy it together
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Even with a commanding series lead, the Caps all spoke of the importance of consistency and seizing the moment after their light workout. Washington has a shockingly lengthy franchise history of playoff collapses, but these Caps promptly won all three potential closeout games in their first three playoff series this spring.
”Maybe because we’ve talked about it so much,” Caps defenseman John Carlson said. ”Guys are sick of hearing about it from the meetings. Sick of not getting it done. They all kind of blend together, but I think we have come out with great efforts every closing-out game, and we’re going to need a big one. This is a good team at home. It’s going to take a really good effort to get it done.”
The Caps don’t have the luxury of thinking about the minor disappointment of not being at home to secure Washington’s first championship in a major pro sport since the Redskins’ Super Bowl victory in January 1992. Back home in D.C., fans will be cheering on their team at Capital One Arena in a watch party that sold out in about 20 minutes.
”I think the history of the organization is definitely an important thing, but we’re focused on this group,” Washington’s Tom Wilson said. ”We’re focused on this year, and obviously once all is said and done or whatever happens, you can look back on it. We want to do it for the city. We want to do it for ourselves.”
So far in this series, the Caps have done just about everything well. Washington has scored 16 goals in four games against the reeling Golden Knights, whose charmed expansion season has run short of magic in three consecutive losses.
While the Caps focused on changing nothing from their last three efforts, the Golden Knights also don’t believe they need a wholesale change. Coach Gerard Gallant’s team is banking on the resilience of a group that hasn’t lost four consecutive games at any point in their utterly charmed inaugural season.
”It’s not the first adversity we’ve faced this year
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NEW ORLEANS — The playoffs essentially began a month ago for both the New Orleans Pelicans (47-34) and the San Antonio Spurs (47-34).
While both teams have clinched Western Conference playoff spots, Wednesday night’s regular-season finale at the Smoothie King Center is the finish line in a marathon race for playoff seeding.
Unless Memphis pulls off a monster upset and defeats the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road Wednesday, the Pelicans, currently the fifth seed, would finish anywhere from the fourth, fifth or sixth seed with a victory over the Spurs. The Pelicans would drop to the eighth seed with a loss, setting up a first-round matchup with the No. 1 Houston Rockets.
The Spurs also could fall anywhere from the fourth to the eighth seed, given a myriad of possibilities.
The only solace for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is that the Spurs, playing most of the season without All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard, have made the playoffs for the 21st consecutive season. That streak is 11 years longer than Popovich’s nearest competitor
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“Oh, it’s wonderful,” Popovich said, using his characteristic deadpan delivery Monday night after the Spurs clinched their playoff spot with a 98-85 victory over Sacramento.
“They deserve a lot of credit, done a great job,” Popovich said of his players. “I’m real proud of them.”
The Pelicans have won four consecutive games to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2015. Coach Alvin Gentry said there are so many possible playoff matchups that he wants his team to focus on what it can control.
“We’re just going to do the best we can do (to beat the Spurs), and whoever we play, we play,” Gentry said. ‘We just want to continue to play good basketball.”
The Pelicans’ four-game winning streak could not have been timelier, and forward Anthony Davis has been the catalyst during the streak. Davis, who has made the playoffs only once in his five NBA seasons, said he was proud the Pelicans did not collapse after the season-ending Achilles injury to center DeMarcus Cousins on Jan. 26.
“A lot of people counted us out when he went down, but we just kept fighting, changed the way we play a little bit
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The Pelicans have won two of three against San Antonio this season, winning 107-90 at home on Nov. 22 and 121-116 in San Antonio on Feb. 28 and losing 98-93 in San Antonio on March 15. Davis had averaged 25.3 points on .509 shooting and 13.3 rebounds in the three games, while the Spurs have been led by Dejounte Murray with 16.7 points, including .667 from 3-point range and 8.0 rebounds.
The Spurs said Leonard would not be available to play against the Pelicans as he returns from a season-long quad injury.
Pelicans point guard Rajon Rondo, who delivered an off-the-backboard assist to Davis for a thunderous, one-handed dunk against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night, said he likes what he sees in New Orleans’ recent play.
“I think if we come in with the right focus, the right mindset — obviously, you’ve got to make some shots — we can beat anyone,” Rondo said. “We know that as a team.”
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