For the snakebitten expansion Golden Knights, a bunch of near-misses added up to one big defeat to the Washington CapitalsFirst 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. Continue reading...
The nebulous interference rule, a point of controversy all year long, is a ticking time bomb that threatens to spoil a team’s Stanley Cup hopesThe NHL playoffs begin on Wednesday, as the remaining 16 teams get set to begin what they hope will be a two-month journey towards the Stanley Cup. It’s a great time to be a hockey fan. But this year, there’s a cloud hanging over everything. A controversy over the league’s goaltender interference rules has flared up periodically all season long, especially down the stretch. And that has fans wondering when – not if – a key game is going to be determined by an interference call that everyone hates. Related: 'It's the best game in the...
Tennessee may not have been known as a hockey hotbed in the past but the Preds have brought character and exuberant fans to the leagueEven before National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman appeared at ice level on Sunday night in Nashville to award the Stanley Cup to the Pittsburgh Penguins, fans in the Bridgestone Arena were already chanting “Bettman sucks.”Most likely, the hatred spawned most directly from the fact that the Predators, who lost 1-0 to the Penguins in what was to be the decisive Game 6, would have been up by that same tally from early on, had it not been for a mystifying call by one of the referees. Early in the second period, a Predators shot deflected...