Jason Verrett Jersey from liuyt's blog

They pushed the pace with speed and skill when Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom were part of the ”Young Guns.” They made every game a coin flip with tight, Dale Hunter hockey. Each time, an early exit followed.

This year is different. Suddenly, the Capitals are a suffocating defensive team that clogs the middle of the ice and makes even the fastest of opponents look slow.

The Vegas Golden Knights are the latest to get frustrated by Washington’s neutral-zone pressure that took a toll on Columbus, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, paving the way for this run to the Stanley Cup Final. After cruising through three rounds with ease, nothing looks easy right now for Vegas because the Capitals have mastered the art of frustration, and are two wins away from hoisting the Cup for the first time.

”Offensive teams have certain tendencies, certain routes that they take through the neutral zone, plays they like to make, so if you can be on top of them and turn over some pucks, stifle them, make it hard for them to gain entry with possession, that frustrates skilled players,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said Sunday. ”If you can be in their face, just standing in the way, it’s amazing what that does.”

It’s amazing the transformation the Capitals have made since coach Barry Trotz challenged players late in the regular season to embrace this approach. It was clear as early as Game 4 of the first round that the 1-1-3 trap in the neutral zone had the ability to essentially shut down the opposing attack, and since the first two playoff games Washington is 10-2 when scoring first.

The Golden Knights have found how difficult it is to try to come back against the Capitals and need to adjust quickly down 2-1 in the Cup Final going into Game 4 Monday night. They have to make some adjustments before it’s too late.

”Our guys who have a lot of speed can go back deeper Jaleel Scott Jersey , gather some speed,” winger David Perron said. ”Then the defensemen can try to freeze the first forechecker, kick it wide. These guys coming with speed, if they’re confronted, which they will be most times at the blue line, you can put it in and go on the forecheck. You can have guys hang close to the right wing or up top, and as the puck is coming your way, win the one-on-one battle with support. … We also have to try to not let them set up, so if there’s a turnover, a quick one, we can punt it up, go back on offense.”

The Penguins and Lightning tried that and couldn’t crack the Capitals well enough to advance.

”They’re really good at slowing you down,” Lightning forward J.T. Miller said during the Eastern Conference final. ”Right when you want to just chip it and go, there’s a guy, there’s a wall there, and guys are ready to go back and get it on the other side. … It’s just their ability to stand up and make you force plays because it looks like there’s more ice than there is, and then all of a sudden they do a good job of staying in front and retrieving pucks.”

Vegas is built on speed, but it’s hard to harness it if players can’t get blue line to blue line with the puck to create any offense. When the Capitals took a lead in Game 3 Bart Starr Jersey , they went into their now-patented scheme.

”It’s just kind of a group mentality to make life difficult on them,” winger Tom Wilson said. ”I think that’s when we’re at our best as a team is when we’re playing physical, we’re taking away time and space, making it difficult on their top guys.”

That difficulty wears on a team, and Trotz said it’s noticeable when an opponent tries to change its game and manage the puck differently to counterbalance the trap. When it works effectively, not only does it limit changes against, but it creates the kind of odd-man rushes that have paced Washington’s offense this postseason.

”It’s important to recognize moments when you can pressure, and we don’t want to get away from that, where we can send two guys and try to force teams into mistakes,” Niskanen said. ”If you can hold either the red line or the blue line with layers of support, you can force teams into turnovers, and we’ve done a good job of that.”

—

More Stanley Cup coverage: Nick Foles did his best Tom Brady impersonation, leading a late-game comeback to cap a season that began as a backup and ended as Super Bowl MVP.

Foles’ journey mirrored Brady’s 16 years ago and ended late Sunday night, with green-and-white confetti falling as delirious Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrated their first NFL title since 1960.

No quarterback has gone from backup to title game MVP in one season since Brady replaced Drew Bledsoe in the 2001 season. Foles topped the 40-year-old Brady, football’s greatest winner, in the most prolific offensive game in NFL history, with the Eagles defeating the favored New England Patriots 41-33.

Foles finished it off by engineering the type of game-winning drive that made Brady famous, and he watched his defense stop Brady to seal the victory and the Eagles first Super Bowl – their earlier titles came before the Super Bowl era.

”The stage was never too big for him all year Frank Clark Jersey ,” said Zach Ertz, who caught the game-winning 11-yard touchdown pass from Foles with 2:21 remaining. ”To get in a shootout with that guy on the other team is probably not ideal for anyone ever. The guy is the best quarterback to ever play the game.”

But on this night Brady played second fiddle to Foles despite throwing for a playoff record 505 yards. Foles was nearly as prolific with 373 yards and three touchdown passes and also caught a TD pass for the Eagles (16-3). Brady dropped his own chance at a reception on a trick play by the Patriots (15-4).

That all added up to Foles becoming the first backup quarterback to win the Super Bowl since Brady beat two-time NFL MVP Kurt Warner to win his first title 16 years ago.

Brady never gave up the job he got after Bledsoe got hurt early that season. He has gone on to win a record five Super Bowl titles. After throwing his third touchdown pass, to Rob Gronkowski, with 9:22 to play to give the Patriots their first lead of the game, he seemed poised for a sixth.

That’s when Foles stepped up with the drive of his life to give Philadelphia a championship in a season many wrote off after Carson Wentz injured his knee in Week 14.

Foles drove the Eagles 75 yards, converting a fourth-and-1 with a 2-yard pass to Ertz near midfield and then capping it with the pass to Ertz that needed to survive a replay review to make sure Ertz held onto the ball long enough for a score.

”It doesn’t get any bigger than this, but I felt good,” Foles said. ”I felt calm. I think the big thing that helped me was knowing that I didn’t have to be Superman. I have amazing teammates.”

One of those teammates delivered the key defensive play on a night when the offenses combined for 1,151 yards – the most in any modern NFL game. With Brady poised to lead one of his memorable comebacks, Brandon Graham knocked the ball out of his hand for a fumble that rookie Derek Barnett recovered with 2:09 to play.

”When the fourth quarter came we had to go out there and make a stop,” Graham said. ”As a defense we hadn’t been doing it all game. The offense carried us all the way through. At the end of the day we kept coming.”

Jake Elliott tacked on a field goal and the game ended when Brady’s desperation heave to the end zone fell to the turf, sending the Eagles out on the field in celebration and Brady to the ground in despair.

”I don’t think anyone wallows on our team,” Brady said. ”We’re a competitive team. Played hard. Didn’t make enough plays or score enough points.”

The questions after the game immediately turned to the future with Foles expected to return to the backup role when Wentz is healthy. In the other locker room, Brady was asked if he would come back for another run at age 41.

”I expect to be back,” he said. ”It’s 15 minutes after the game ended, so I would like to process this. I don’t see why I wouldn’t be back.”

Brady did just about all he could to win the game, with his most glaring miss coming as a receiver on a trick play in the first half when he dropped a pass from receiver Danny Amendola.

Foles topped him in that role with his touchdown late in the first half that made him the first player to catch and throw a TD pass in the same Super Bowl.

On fourth down from the 1, Foles motioned into the slot Rob Gronkowski Jersey , while rookie Corey Clement took a direct snap. Clement pitched to tight end Trey Burton, a former quarterback at Florida. Foles slid into the right side of the end zone, uncovered and caught the touchdown on a play coach Doug Pederson calls ”Philly Special.”

”Yeah, that was something we’ve been working on, and Doug and I were talking, and he was like, `Let’s just run it.’ It was a good time,” Foles said. ”And the end was a little wider than I thought, so I was like, `I really need to sell like I’m not doing anything.’

”And it worked, Trey made an amazing throw. I just looked it in and, yeah, we’ve repped it for a while, so I was excited to get it run in the Super Bowl.”

That gave the Eagles a 22-12 halftime lead but Brady led three straight second-half touchdown drives – two to Gronkowski. Foles kept pace with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Clement and another drive for a field goal that kept the Eagles in it until the dramatic finish.

”It kind of felt like whoever had the ball last could win this game, and we were just fortunate enough to put ourselves in a position to end the game with that drive for the touchdown,” Pederson said. ”Our defense stepped up and did a nice job to finish it for us.”

All that was l Authentic Womens Jaire Alexander Jersey