Killer will come around. The guy only ever scores big goals. I hate to say it but all 3 games in this series were never really all that close. Game 1 got off on the wrong foot and game 2 was pretty much doomed as soon as the Caps equalized it because we would not stop shooting ourselves in the foot. game 4 well.... that game was in hand the moment it started. None of these situations is prime Alex Killorn time. Let's pretend for a minute that we make some unprecedented history by winning this out and making the SCF. If I had some Monopoly money to bet, I'd bet it all that Killer comes through later this series. I'm still nervous for game 4 but we proved last night what I always knew deep down -we can skate with them and beat them. Just stay focused and composed.
The only remaining issue I have is that we'll have to play smart and not take penalties and we'll have to focus on stronger clears along the walls at even strength. There is so much concern for how we're gonna stop their cycle. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there IS no defense for a cycle on its game like that once it gets going. No one has figured it out ever. All you can do is clog passing lanes, block shots and hope you get lucky on both or that you get even luckier for someone up high along the blue line to mishandle the puck. Sometimes you get lucky and it only ever really works if the team you're playing against does not move their feet, careless or simply has players making stupid plays. None of this will happen with DC.
The key will lie in converging on the backcheck in numbers on any dump in. Swarm the boards, free the puck or simply hop on it while loose. Get a man in motion on the counter attack up ice and make sure that first pass out of the zone is crisp and precise. What happens thereon from the neutral zone doesn't really matter. You can lug it up ice and dump it. Do that and you'll never see the cycle. It's all fundamentals. It's all the crap we EVER hear players talk about to us fans. "Pucks in deep" "Loose pucks" (btw massive LOL's that they speak in plural as if there is more than one puck at once) and also "compete level" otherwise we'll be spending all night swinging our sticks at moving targets and praying we just aren't screening Vasy.