Top 3 reasons why Capitals will win Round #1

#2 Ilya Samsonov

Ilya Samsonov deserves all the praise in the world right now for his performance not only in Game 3 but Game 2. In Game 2 he put out the fire stopping all 17 shots in the third period in relief of Vitek Vanecek. The Caps just dug themselves in too deep of a hole to overcome.

In Game 3 Samsonov only let one shot get past him which was the game opening goal but then rebounded the rest of the way to make 29 saves out of the 30 shots he faced. Samsonov even helped set up a goal in transition to give the Capitals the lead as Marcus Johansson finished a backhander on the other end.

That set up came in the form of a momentum changing save off Aleksander Barkov. Samsonov talked about it:

"“This is pretty quick. I didn’t see puck well behind the net. Boom, boom, pass, pass, save, you know. Something like that. Boom, boom, save,”"

https://twitter.com/NBCSCapitals/status/1523036081733656577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1523036081733656577%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcsports.com%2Fwashington%2Fcapitals%2Filya-samsonov-delivered-game-3-how-caps-fans-reacted-almost-moved-him-tears

Johansson added this about that big save:

"“It was an unbelievable save. Sammy was unbelievable for us tonight, he kept us in it when we needed to. That’s the way you need these games to go. He makes a big save and then we go the other way and get one. It makes a big difference. You’re up 2-1 or you’re down 2-1.”"