How the Capitals' many close calls added up to a big Stanley Cup victory

For the snakebitten expansion Golden Knights, a bunch of near-misses added up to one big defeat to the Washington Capitals

First thing’s first: The Las Vegas Golden Knights were close.

No Stanley Cup final series can be reduced to mere millimeters, but when so many small distances conspire to create such a large difference, it’s difficult not to notice them. The most obvious was The Save – Washington Capitals’ goaltender Braden Holtby’s sprawling stick stop against Alex Tuch with two minutes left in Game 2. The Capitals were up 3-2, but down 1-0 in the series. They hung on for the win.