The virtual Washington Capitals are one win away.
In our latest NHL 20 simulation, the virtual Washington Capitals just keep on winning, making things interesting to ponder if the real life version can do the same when the season resumes.
The Caps took Game 3 over the Colorado Avalanche on the road, rallying from a two goal deficit by scoring four unanswered, quieting the crowd and setting things up for a chance to clinch their second Stanley Cup in three years.
Riding the wave of the home crowd looking to give them a jolt, the Avalanche scored the first two goals of the game. Mikko Rantanen got a good look up front at 7:21 and Andre Burakovsky struck again late in the period at 18:14.
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It looked like complete domination but then the Caps answered.
Jakub Vrana got a shot up the middle with 1.8 seconds to spare past the glove of Philipp Grubauer to get the Caps on the board. 2-1 was the score after 20 minutes. Shots were even at five apiece.
In the second the Caps worked their magic like they have all spring, responding to adversity by striking right back. At 8:53 Michal Kempny got a snap shot from up front for his first goal of the playoffs. Lars Eller had the assist.
Later in the period at 15:52, J.T. Compher was called for a tripping minor, putting the Caps on the power play. At 16:14, Vrana’s shot from downtown gave the Caps the lead. T.J. Oshie and John Carlson had the helpers.
3-2 Caps was the score heading into the final period. Like the first period, shots were even Steven in the second this time at seven each.
The Caps were able to hang on and add an insurance goal in the form of an empty netter from Tom Wilson with two seconds left off a pass from Nicklas Backstrom to put a stamp in this one.
“I thought we showed heart in that comeback, the heart of a champion but our work isn’t done yet. We all know the fourth game is the hardest to win in a series so we expect their best and we’re going to try to bring our best,” head coach Todd Reirden told us after the game in a virtual postgame scrum we totally made up. Would be kind of cool if they had that kind of a feature in the video game though.
Can the virtual Caps complete the sweep and bring home a Stanley Cup? Check back tomorrow to find out.