Capitals Vs. Rangers, Game 3: New York Wins In 3OT After Exhausting Battle

WASHINGTON -- It’s not just that the Washington Capitals lost Game 3 in triple overtime that makes Wednesday night’s marathon defeat so frustrating for them. It’s that they had so many chances to close this one out well before the clock struck midnight and the calendar flipped to Thursday. It’s that this was a game they should have won.

“Frustration for me,” Brouwer said after the game, reflecting on the wide-open net that had stared him in the face earlier in the evening. “I was in tight, I was trying to get it up and it just rolled over my stick. I’ve gotta at least get it on net, give it a chance to go in the net.”

Pretty good effort there. Bodies everywhere, open net, Boyle’s ass in the wrong place.

That was awesome. Not only did it one-up a player who was acting like kind of a jerk, it showed how calm and poised he is under the pressure. I mean, a flinch could have been embarrassing, but Holtby didn’t budge.

Despite all that, though, his mom made an apparence on TV Wednesday evening. She’s kind of the best.

But hey, that’s overtime in the playoffs. You know that there’s a chance that puck hits you in the face every time you go down to block a shot, and Boyle paid the price this time. Nothing a few stitches and a trip to the dentist can’t fix up, though.

All the Rangers captain had to do was grab the puck, spin and fire it into the back of the cage to give his team the lead.