2 Chainz – No Lie (feat. Drake)

Tity Boi aka 2 Chainz is finally gearing up to release his debut album, Based On A T.R.U Story. The Playaz Cirle rapper has basically revived his career with a simple name change that has paid for it self and then some. For single #1 Dos Chainz recruits ‘Master Hook’ himself, Drake Drizzy Rogers. If 2 Chainz needed any more hype at this point, I think he has it with this single which he will ride until the album release. And as the calender turns to May, it seems that the summer will once again belong to that kid from Toronto. TRUUU. Clean version for now. Song hits iTunes in a week. Enjoy..

Download: 2 Chainz – No Lie (feat. Drake) 

Chief Keef – I Don’t Like (Remix) (feat. Pusha T, Kanye West, Jadakiss & Big Sean)

After leaving people on the edge of their seats for more than a week, G.O.O.D. Music & Kanye West finally unleash the remix to “I Don’t Like,” the street anthem of the controversial Chicago emcee, Chief Keep. Once again, Kanye is all type of disrespectful on the track, a good sign of things to come for the G.O.O.D. Music album and that elusive 6th solo. This is that shit I do like. Bang Bang. Radio Rip for now courtesy of FakeShoreDrive. Enjoy..

Update: Flex gives us CDQ. But it’s clean…. One more step to go. I’ll update with the dirty when available.

Update 2: Big Sean delivers explicit.

J Luxury – Nameless (Prod. by Ethan Konkus)

A$AP Rocky – Goldie

This afternoon, Rocky gave Hot97 & Angie Martinez the a-ok to unveil his highly, highly anticipated lead single to his debut album. Prior to debuting the song, Hot97 also revealed Rocky would be headlining Summer Jam 2012. It’s scary to think about all Rocky & the whole A$AP crew has accomplished in a matter of months. Although impressive, such a phenomenon is always a scary predicament for an artist. As of now, the reviews are mixed on this Hit-Boy assisted single. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering the hype that surrounded this track. “Goldie” certainly has that summertime feel to it. Take a listen for yourself and enjoy..

Postgame Notebook: Capitals 3, Rangers 2

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 30: Brooks Laich #21 of the Washington Capitals skates with the puck in the first period ahead of Ryan McDonagh #27 of the New York Rangers in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 30, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Economy – Caps captain Alex Ovechkin didn’t get as much ice time as he does most nights in Monday’s Game 2 of theEastern Conference semifinal series with the New York Rangers. In fact, his 13:36 for the night was the lowest of his 46-game Stanley Cup playoff career.

Ovechkin made the most of his limited time, firing seven shots on net – the most of any skater on either side – and supplying the game-breaking and game-winning power play strike with 7:27 left in the third period. That goal gave the Caps a 3-2 win and enabled Washington to even the series at 1-1.

Game 3 is at Verizon Center on Wednesday night.

Washington got off to a somewhat choppy start in Monday’s game. New York’s forecheck was relentless for much of the first frame, as the Rangers were hell bent on getting the game’s first goal and retaining home ice advantage in the series.

The Blueshirts were tenacious in the corners and along the boards in the Washington zone, and they made life miserable for the Caps’ defense. The Rangers outhit the Caps 21-10 in the first period; the two teams were virtually even in that department the rest of the way. Ten of New York’s first-period hits were leveled against Washington defensemen.

It was Washington’s fourth line that eventually turned the tide.

Caps right wing Joel Ward picked off an errant Stu Bickel pass in the Washington end and skated the puck through neutral ice on a 3-on-2 rush. Ward gained the line, then passed to Keith Aucoin in the high slot. Aucoin went right back to Ward, who one-timed a perfect feed to Mike Knuble, who was parked at the doorstep on the right post. Knuble tapped it in to give the Caps a 1-0 lead at 12:20 of the first.

Just under five minutes later, Washington’s third line scored to give the Caps just their second two-goal lead of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs. Jason Chimera’s speed accounted for the goal; he beat New York netminder Henrik Lundqvist to a puck behind the Rangers’ net and flipped it in front. Matt Hendricks took a shot at the open net, and Chimera finished by tapping it in from the same spot where Knuble had scored earlier.

Getting that early lead was big for Washington in enemy territory in Game 2.

“There was just a little more urgency today,” says Knuble. “We got two. One of them was a little misplay by the goalie, and then a bouncing puck we turned into a three-on-one. I feel like it really took the building down a lot. They were starting to come on and they were buzzing a little bit and they had really changed the game at that point. It settled things down for us.”

The Caps owned a brief (2:54) two-goal lead in Game 5 of their first-round series with Boston. Tonight’s two-goal advantage didn’t even last that long.

With Washington’s John Carlson and New York’s Marc Staal in the box for coincidental minors late in the first, the Caps were again victimized for a 4-on-4 goal on a pretty passing sequence from Marian Gaborik to Brad Richards. Richards’ goal came in the final minute of the frame, and it meant the Caps were up 2-1 instead of 2-0 after the first 20 minutes of play.

After a scoreless second, the Rangers pulled even on a Ryan Callahan power-play goal at 6:58 of the third. Callahan’s goal was just the third power-play strike surrendered by Washington in nine playoff games this spring.

The Caps had two power plays in short succession in the middle of the third. They failed on the first, but needed just four seconds of Richards’ holding minor to cash in for the winner. Nicklas Backstrom won the offensive zone draw back to Ovechkin, who skated the puck to center point and fired. Caps winger Troy Brouwer screened Lundqvist in front, and the puck had eyes.

“Nicky wins a face-off and I kind of turned and felt like I was going to have some pressure,” recounts Ovechkin. “But when I turned I saw nobody come to me. Brouwsie did a great job going to the front of the net. It was kind of a lucky shot.”

The Caps dodged a couple of bullets – Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto hit a pair of posts in the third – and Caps goalie Braden Holtby stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced to help the Caps win a squeaker.

“You battle back as hard as we did to tie the game,” laments Rangers coach John Tortorella, “you can’t take four minutes in penalties. You’re not going to win a hockey game that way.”

“We really wanted to push back and get the win,” says Caps center Brooks Laich. “We weren’t pleased with our effort the last game, and we wanted to push back and definitely get a split at least leaving here. But they’re going to raise their play another level and we have to do the same on home ice.”

Occupy – After winning the offensive zone draw that led to Ovechkin’s game-winner, Backstrom managed to occupy New York pivot Brian Boyle for just a second, long enough to leave Ovechkin’s shooting lane open.

“First I saw it, then I didn’t see it, then I saw it,” said Lundqvist of Ovechkin’s goal. “It was a hard shot. It was a good shot. Unfortunately, someone got tied up and he got a free lane. It’s the wrong guy to give that opportunity.”

Backstrom was the guy responsible for someone getting “tied up.”

“I was just trying to win the draw there,” says Backstrom. “I was just trying to go with my normal technique, faster than him. I was lucky there. I got it back, there was a good screen in front of the net from Brouwer. And then we all know [Ovechkin] has a pretty good wrist shot.”

Rebound – After struggling in Game 1 of the series, Holtby had a strong rebound game against the Rangers on Monday.

“Holtby made huge saves in the third and in the second as well,” says Ovechkin. “He kept us in the game. Everybody knows they have pretty good offensive weapons out there and they use them.”

Holtby has now gone 25 straight starts in the NHL – including nine in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs – without suffering back-to-back setbacks.

“It was good,” says Holtby. “It was a big character win. I think we played definitely more our style of game. We got some huge games from a couple of guys, and we came out on top.

Turning Point – With Washington holding a 1-0 lead late in the first period, the Rangers were whistled for a bench minor for too many men on the ice at 14:53. New York sent rookie Chris Kreider to serve the penalty.

Just as Kreider was being sprung from the box, Carlson was caught a bit flat-footed at the New York line. The swift-footed Kreider collected the puck and barreled through the neutral zone and in alone on Holtby. He fired but the Caps goaltender shrugged the puck to the corner to keep the Rangers from drawing even.

Seconds later, the Caps cashed in on a Lundqvist miscue at the other end of the ice when Chimera scored to make it 2-0. Holtby’s huge save had sparked a two-goal swing in the game.
“I just tried to be patient on the breakaway. In the past, I’ve gotten a little ahead of myself in making moves first. I just tried to be patient. I waited him out and he tried to go five-hole. I made a save and Chimmer showed us his fastest guy in the world [speed] there. That’s a huge play for us by a veteran guy, and a great character player.”

Lunch Buckets – In each of Washington’s last two wins, its third and fourth lines have contributed crucial goals. Hendricks and Ward scored the only goals in the Caps’ 2-1 win over Boston in the deciding Game 7 last Wednesday, and Knuble and Chimera’s goals tonight came with those units on the ice.

Those goals aren’t necessarily by design, says Knuble.

“At times when we haven’t scored,” begins the veteran right wing, “we’ve been able to play in their end and kind of rag the puck around and make guys play in their own end. I think that’s your job. We’re not going out there thinking we’re going to score, and that’s a huge bonus when we do. Our job is to tilt the ice. And I think we’ve been pretty clear about that.”

Timely Power – Washington is now 4-for-26 (15.4%) on the power play in the playoffs this spring. With four extra-man tallies in nine games, the Caps have certainly not been prolific in that department. But the four goals they’ve gotten have been big ones.

The first of the four was the game’s first goal in Game 3 of the first-round series with the Bruins, a game the Caps eventually lost. Each of the next three power play goals has proven to be the game-winning goal, and not one of them has been a “cheap” game-winner. All three of those power play goals – from Alexander Semin, Troy Brouwerand Ovechkin – were tie-breaking tallies that turned out to also be the final goals scored in those games.

“We’re scoring them at the right time, I think,” says Backstrom. “We’ve got to keep practicing them, too. The power play is such a big key I think, and you can get confidence from that. We’ve got to keep working on that. Hopefully we can keep scoring there.”

Streak Stopper – Tonight’s win halted the Capitals’ six-game losing streak in second-round Stanley Cup playoff games.

By The Numbers – Washington blocked 24 shots to New York’s 14 … Carlson led the Caps with 23:43 in ice time on the night … Jay Beagle led all Washington forwards with 19:58 in ice time and paced the team with five hits … Ovechkin led the Caps with seven shots on net. He also had three shot tries blocked … Roman Hamrlik led the Caps with five blocked shots … Laich won nine of 13 (69%) draws on the night … Callahan led the Rangers with eight hits … Three New York defensemen – Staal (25:25), Ryan McDonagh (25:30) and Del Zotto (25:08) played at least 25 minutes … Four Rangers – Bickel, John Mitchell, Artem Anisimov and Mike Rupp – played less than five minutes on the night.

Three star selections
1st:	BRADEN HOLTBY
2nd:	MICHAEL DEL ZOTTO
3rd:	ALEX OVECHKIN

Winning Goaltender Braden Holtby

Losing Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist

B.o.B – So Good (Mike Stud x Missy Modell Remix)

Last night I was lucky enough to catch Mike Stud‘s sold out show in NYC with Huey Mack, Missy Modell, Scolla, and Kinetics & One Love … and it was nuts. Mike is quickly blowing up, and he keeps pumping out quality videos/tracks to keep building the momentum. It seems as tho Missy Modell is quickly solidifying her place as the go-to woman for catchy hooks, and you can see why. Just a reminder, you can join myself and catch Missy Modell along with Clinton Sparks and Radical something FOR FREE in Boston tomorrow, just click here to find out how to enter.

DOWNLOAD:  (Click Here)

Paul Kruger Not Fazed By Courtney Upshaw Pick

Just two weeks ago, Paul Kruger reported to the first day of the team’s offseason strength and conditioning program with the outlook of a 2012 starter.

He talked about how nice it was, after having served as a backup for three seasons, to have an “avenue” to the starting outside linebacker position vacated by Jarrett Johnson.

But after the Ravens invested their top pick in the second round on Alabama’s Courtney Upshaw this weekend, that avenue is more congested.

Three former second-round picks – Kruger, Upshaw and Sergio Kindle – will all battle for playing time at SAM linebacker.

Kruger’s viewpoint hasn’t changed, however. He was expecting a battle.

“I figured there would be somebody there, somebody to give me a run for my money,” Kruger said Monday.

“There’s always going to be competition until you’re a Terrell Suggs, or a Ray Lewis or a Haloti Ngata. It’s going to be a fight every year – every week even. That doesn’t change my mindset or anything. I’m just excited to get going and develop as a SAM linebacker.”

Head Coach John Harbaugh said at the owners meetings that he thought Kruger would be the SAM linebacker. On Friday night, he was essentially asked whether that changed following the Upshaw selection.

Harbaugh said Kruger is “still the lead dog.”

“He is the veteran guy,” Harbaugh said. “It will give us another pass rusher. Courtney will provide great competition. There will certainly, obviously, be tremendous depth.”

Upshaw and Kruger are physically different, and thus could be used in varied roles. Kruger is a 6-foot-4, 265-pound edge rusher. Upshaw is a stockier 6-foot-2, 272-pound power rusher. Both pride themselves on getting to the quarterback, but both have a college background of setting the edge.

Kruger said he hasn’t really seen much film on Upshaw, but he’s sure he’s a great player and great guy, because “the Ravens only bring those types of players here.”

“But I’m doing everything I can and I think I’m the guy for the position,” he added.

“We’ll see how it plays out. During mini camps and training camp, it doesn’t matter whether you’re projected or not. That’s where you’ve got to prove it. If you can get it done, then all is well.”

Kindle will also be impacted by Upshaw’s arrival.

Like in Upshaw’s case, the Ravens traded out of the first round before selecting Kindle in 2009. Upshaw was the 35^th-overall pick and Kindle dropped to 43^rd.

Kindle is hoping to work into the defensive rotation this year. Last year, he returned from the head injury that robbed him of his rookie season, but saw little playing time.

“Yeah, he plays my position, but I don’t consider that anything to worry about because it’s always good to get new guys,” Kindle said.

Kindle faced Upshaw’s Roll Tide in the 2010 BCS national championship. While he didn’t play against Upshaw, Kindle knew of him.

“He was good then, probably better now,” Kindle said.

“But he’s going to have to come in here and work just like we all are. He’s going to push me harder and I’m going to push him the same way. Regardless, at the end of the day, we’re both going to be better for it.”

Caps Look to Draw Even in Game 2

April 30 vs. New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden
Time: 7:30 pm
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 1500AM, 820AM, XM and Caps Radio Network
Pre-Game: Two-Man Advantage at 3 p.m., John Walton’s one-on-one audio with Dale Hunter at 3 p.m. on washingtoncaps.com.

Washington Capitals (42-32-8), 92 points
New York Rangers (51-24-7), 109 points

Game 1, Eastern Conference semifinal series (New York leads series, 1-0) 

In Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Boston Bruins, the Washington Capitals managed just 17 shots on B’s netminder Tim Thomas, and the result was a 1-0 overtime loss and an early deficit in the series.

In Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the New York Rangers, the Capitals managed just 18 shots on Blueshirts netminder Henrik Lundqvist, and the result was a 3-1 setback and an early deficit in the series.

Washington finds itself in familiar territory after its Game 1 loss to the Rangers on Saturday, needing to put more pucks on one of the game’s best goaltenders to give itself a chance to score more goals.

The Capitals hit three goalposts and a crossbar behind Lundqvist, but they still need to find a way to generate – and cash in on – more scoring chances. Getting some production out of their power play would also be beneficial, but that’s becoming an annual rite of spring in these parts.

The Caps went 0-for-4 with the extra man in Saturday’s series opener, and they whiffed on a two-man advantage that lasted 34 seconds. Washington’s power play is now 3-for-23 (13%) this spring, and the Capitals are 9-for-91 (9.9%) with the extra man in their last 24 playoff games. Washington has gone 32 straight playoff games without scoring multiple power play goals in the same contest.

“It’s a new series now,” says Caps right wing Mike Knuble. “The pace and the stakes go up again. We’ve got to make sure that we’re working that much harder to get shots to the net.

“You get used to a seven-game series, working at that certain pace and a certain way of doing things to generate shots. Well, it’s going to be a little bit different now with a different set of defensemen. This defense takes a ton of pride in blocking shots and they know they’ve got a world-class goalie behind them. We’re going to have to upgrade our offensive work ethic and work that much harder to score goals. Hopefully, we can get them by [Lundqvist].”

At the opposite end of the ice, Washington played – for the most part, anyway – one of its best and most stifling defensive games. The Caps limited the Rangers to just eight shots on goal in the game’s first 40 minutes, and New York managed only 14 shots on goal for the game. That’s the fewest shots the Capitals have ever allowed in a road playoff game.

“I think we held them to 14 shots,” says Caps right wing Troy Brouwer. “And when you do that most nights, you’re going to give yourself a great opportunity to win. But we’re going up a very good defensive team and a very good goalie. With a higher quantity of shots, we’re going to get more opportunities to the net. We’ve got to find a way to get pucks through, we’ve got to find lanes to get pucks through and we’ve got to get guys to the net for those rebounds.”

The Caps made a few mistakes, and it seemed that all of them ended up in their net. Washington goaltenderBraden Holtby was less than ordinary for the first time in the 2012 playoffs, surrendering three goals on the 14 shots he faced.

After seeing a barrage of shots most nights in the Boston series, Game 1 was a bit of a mental letdown for Holtby. The 22-year-old netminder has always been diligent about learning from his mistakes, and this time is no different.

“Being prepared for whatever game presents itself,” says Holtby, when asked what he needs to learn from Game 1. “The seven games against Boston were pretty similar in the fact that their game plan was to shoot with traffic and shoot a lot and just throw things on net.

“[Game 1 against the Rangers] was more of a difficult game for a goaltender to play in terms of keeping your mind into it. But that’s what I have to be ready for. Over the course of a playoff season, you’re going to get all sorts of games and all sorts of different scenarios. I have to be more ready for it.”
New York forwards fired a total of 30 shots on the afternoon, and only eight of those bids found their way to the net. But three of the eight went in, sending the Caps to their sixth successive second-round playoff setback.

Washington’s mission is the same as it was when the Capitals arrived in town on Friday, win one of the two games in New York to wrest the home ice advantage away from the Blueshirts. The Caps squandered their first opportunity to do that in Game 1, and they know they need a better all-around performance in Game 2 to pull even in the series before heading back to Washington for Games 3 and 4.

“It’s hard to pinpoint what happened [in Game 1],” says Caps right wing Joel Ward. “We didn’t give them too much, but they definitely capitalized on their chances. I thought we could have been better, for sure. But Game 1 is behind us. We have to look forward to Game 2. We just have to clean up a few areas and I think once we do that, we’ll transition to more offense.

“We had some positives for sure. They didn’t have a great deal of chances and we didn’t get blown out of the water. But I thought it was a game that if we would have taken it to them more, put on a little bit more pressure, we could have been right in there and the result could have been different.

“It’s something that we can correct, I think we’ve just got to be more hungry and more motivated coming into the next game.”

X-Factor: Semin showing two-way ability for Caps

Alexander Semin’s game changing goals: http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20112012,3,123&event=WSH48

The Washington Capitals beat the defending champion Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs with great defense and goaltending. They didn’t score a lot, but they scored enough.

While Braden Holtby was the breakout star for Washington, Joel Ward was the Game 7 hero in overtime and Alex Ovechkin drew plenty of attention for his seven-contest war with Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg, someone else was quietly the team’s best two-way player for most of the series.

Alexander Semin has typically only received attention in the playoffs for what he wasn’t doing — he didn’t score a goal in Washington’s second-round loss to Pittsburgh in 2009 and followed that up with an 0-for-44 shooting percentage in an upset loss to Montreal the following year.

Semin was solid during the team’s 2011 playoff run, but the series against the Bruins might have been his best work in the postseason since the first round in 2008 against Philadelphia. He led the Capitals with three goals against Boston, but he also had a strong series at the defensive end of the ice.

Dale Hunter‘s Capitals are clearly a defense-first club now, and it was Semin’s line, with Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson, that was able to strike a balance between creating scoring chances and playing sound defense.

Should Hunter continue with the current setup, Ovechkin will likely see a lot of the New York Rangers‘ top defensemen, particularly Dan Girardiand Ryan McDonagh, who were among the League’s best at neutralizing top competition this season. The line with Backstrom and Semin would again be tasked with winning the battle against one of New York’s other defense pairings.

Backstrom and Ovechkin have spent most of the regular season playing together since the Swedish center arrived in 2007-08, but in nearly every postseason former coach Bruce Boudreau made the switch and put him with Semin. Hunter began this postseason with them together, and they have connected again.

Another big reason why Semin played so well against the Bruins was his discipline. He has a penchant for taking bad penalties at the worst times, typically in the offensive zone. Semin had only two penalties against Boston, and the Capitals will need him to continue on good behavior.

Ovechkin and Holtby will have the spotlight on them again in the second round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but whether or not this group of Capitals can reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in five tries could hinge on how well Semin is able to supplement the team’s efforts at both ends of the ice.

Capitals 2, Bruins 1, OT

*** FOR VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS ***

(Click Here)

Home Away From Home – From March 10 onward, the Boston Bruins won a total of five games at their Beantown home, TD Garden.

That’s the same number of games the Washington Capitals won in the same building over the same time span.

Joel Ward’s goal at 2:57 of overtime gave the Caps a 2-1 win in the deciding Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series between the Capitals and the Bruins on Wednesday night in Boston.

The win was Washington’s fifth in six tries in a span of 47 days in Boston.

Mike Knuble collected an errant dump-in attempt from Bruins forward Benoit Pouliot as the home team went for a change. Knuble then tore through the neutral zone with Ward on a 2-on-1 break, and backhanded a shot on Boston netminder Tim Thomas. Thomas made the initial stop, but Ward tucked the rebound into a small, short-side opening to end the series, dethroning the defending Stanley Cup champions and sending the Capitals on to the second round against an as-yet-to-be-identified foe.

“It hit me right in the shins,” says Knuble of Pouliot’s dump-in attempt. “I knew they were all going for a change. Ward wasn’t going to get the pass. I was going right to the crease with that one. I’m glad he added the finish there at the end.”

“I went for a change,” says Ward, “and Knubs made a big block there and I assumed we had a little bit of a break up ice so try to take a chance and I knew he was going to take it to the rack and I just tried to follow it up as best as I could. You know, I just saw the puck laying there and I just took a whack at it and it went in.”

“We went to dump it in, Pouliot went to dump it in,” says Bruins coach Claude Julien of the game-winning goal, “and he hit one of their players with the puck, and it just bounced out. That puck gets in deep, we’re making a line change, and we’re making a good line change but when it hit their player and bounced out, that’s when things kind of turned sour on us, and we weren’t able to recover.”

Talk about unlikely heroes. Knuble (9:33 in ice time on the night) and Ward (10:44) had the lowest ice time totals of any Capitals on the night. Both were healthy scratches for several games down the stretch in late March and early April, and the two finished the season with identical stat lines of six goals and 18 points, Knuble in 72 games and Ward in 73.

“It’s what hockey’s all about,” says Caps coach Dale Hunter. “Winning in overtime in the seventh game. That’s something special, and well-deserved by our guys.”

For Ward, the goal was his first since Feb. 24. That Feb. 24 goal was an empty-netter, so Wednesday’s overtime series winner was his first goal with a goaltender in the net since Jan. 7.

Knuble was a healthy scratch for the first three games of the series. He was inserted into the Washington lineup in Game 4, and only because Caps center Nicklas Backstrom was suspended for that game because of a cross-check to the visor of Boston forward Rich Peverley at the final buzzer of regulation in Game 3.

Had Backstrom not been suspended, Knuble might not have been in the lineup and might not have been playing alongside Ward and Keith Aucoin.

And the series might have had a different outcome altogether.

Game Seven Overtime – Ward joins Hunter as one of only two players ever to score a game-winning goal in overtime of Game Seven in a Washington sweater. Hunter’s moment came on April 16, 1988 when he went five-hole on Philadelphia’s Ron Hextall to send the Caps to a Game Seven victory.

Thursday night’s win raises Washington’s all-time franchise record in Game Sevens to 3-7.

One More From The Road – Washington had the worst 2011-12 road record (16-21-4) of any of the 16 Stanley Cup playoff entrants. But the Capitals won three of the four road games they played to move on to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Tonight’s series win in an enemy building was Washington’s first since June 4, 1998 when Joé Juneau’s overtime goal pushed the Caps past the Buffalo Sabres in six games in the Eastern Conference final series and delivered Washington to the lone Stanley Cup final appearance in its 37-year franchise history.

Like Ward’s goal, Juneau’s was a rebound follow-up that beat a pretty good goaltender (Dominik Hasek) who happened to have won the Vezina Trophy the year before.

The Kid’s All Right – Caps goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 31 of 32 shots in Game 7 to win his first playoff series, besting the defending Vezina Trophy winner and Conn Smythe winner in the process.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Holtby is just the fourth rookie goaltender in NHL history to win a Game 7 on the road, and the first to do so since Toronto’s Felix Potvin in 1993. Holtby is also just the third rookie goaltender in league history to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions in a seven-game series, joining Calgary’s Mike Vernon (1986) and Montreal’s Ken Dryden (1971) on that short list.

Pressed into service when both Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth were sidelined with injuries at the start of the series, Holtby limited the Bruins to just 15 goals in the seven games. He finished the series with a 2.00 GAA and a .940 save pct.

Appearing in his first ever Stanley Cup playoff series, the 22-year-old Holtby played with the poise and composure of a seasoned veteran.

“If I got rattled I wouldn’t be here right now,” says Holtby. “It’s one of those things that I’ve learned in order to get to this level. I’ve had to work on it and get better at it and obviously it has paid off.”

Forty-one years ago this month, a veritable unknown 23-year-old netminder with a total of six games worth of regular season NHL experience came out of nowhere and stunned the Big Bad Bruins – who had set an NHL record with 399 regular season goals – in a seven-game first-round series. That stunned Bruins team was also a defending Stanley Cup champion club.

That goaltender was Montreal’s Ken Dryden, and now Holtby is hearing his named mentioned in that lofty company.

“Holtsy is a unique kid,” says Hunter, “[in] that nothing fazes him. He’s a battler, you know whatever he does he’s going to try his best, and he gets rewarded for it, because he is. And he’s got great character, and the guys love him. When you call your goalie in net like a warrior, he’s one of the guys like that.”

Asked if he thought he’d someday look back on this series and be thankful he was a part of it, Holtby had the perfect response.

“If we win the next three [series] it will be.”

Kid Stuff – Holtby becomes – along with Semyon Varlamov (2009) and Michal Neuvirth (2011) – the third rookie Caps goalie in four seasons to lead the team to a Stanley Cup series win. Each of Washington’s last 18 Stanley Cup playoff wins has been delivered by a rookie goaltender.

Heroes – The heroes were many for the Capitals tonight. As is almost always the case in important wins, it was truly a team effort. But a few should be singled out.

Holtby was again strong and solid in net, keeping things close and never allowing the Bruins to get a two-goal lead at any point in the seven games. The Bruins were 38-0-0 in games in which they led by two goals at any point in the contest during the regular season. The fact that Holtby and the Caps were able to go through seven games without falling as many as two goals behind the defending champions is truly remarkable.

Foot soldiers Ward, Knuble and Matt Hendricks deserve kudos for supplying the offense in a game – and series – in which offense was particularly difficult to come by.

Ward and Knuble are a couple of the most genuine and well-liked guys in the Washington room, and they both battled through more than their share of adversity during the season. It was great to see them get rewarded at the end of the series.

Hendricks’ first-period goal was his first since March 10 when he scored against Thomas in Boston. It was also the first Stanley Cup playoff goal and point of his NHL career.

And finally, don’t sleep on the standout defensive play of Karl Alzner that came just prior to Ward’s game-winner. Alzner splayed out to prevent Patrice Bergeron from ending the game and Washington’s season just prior to Ward’s game-winner.

Much was said and written about Boston’s shutdown duo of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg during this series, and deservedly so. They comprise one of the best such tandems in all of the NHL. But Alzner and partnerJohn Carlson each had a tremendous series of shutdown duty against a Bruins bunch that is a handful in any one game, let alone seven hard-fought, tightly played tilts.

Special Delivery – Washington’s penalty killing unit deserves mad props for pushing the Capitals into the second round, but it was really at the top of its game tonight in Game 7.

And it needed to be.

Boston had only three power play chances on the night (to one for Washington), but the Bruins got two of those extra-man opportunities in the third period with the game even at 1-1. The second of those opportunities came with just 2:26 in regulation when Caps left wing Jason Chimera was whistled for a holding call on Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk.

“When you talk about tonight,” says Julien, “that’s probably the most frustrating part of our game, was that power play that could have ended the series and the game.

“But, I guess, when you look at the whole picture, I think it was more than that. At the end of the series, you look at their team, and you look at ours, and they were the better team. They had more guys going than we did, and they played us tough. It was unfortunate that we’ve got to look at this one incident because it did play a big role in tonight, but a lot of the damage had been done before that as well.”

Washington killed off 21 of 23 Boston power plays in the series for a kill rate of 91.3%, second only to Phoenix (94.7%) in the playoffs to date.

The Capitals won six of eight face-offs (75%) while shorthanded in Game 7. Boston was limited to just four shots on net during the six minutes in which it enjoyed the manpower advantage.

The King Is Dead – For the first time in five tries in its 37-year history, the Capitals have dethroned a defending Stanley Cup champion in the following year’s playoffs.

Tonight marks the seventh time in the last nine seasons that the defending Stanley Cup champions have exited in the first round of the playoffs.

Razor Thin – Your faithful Caps365 correspondent believes he – and likely most of you – won’t live long enough to see another Stanley Cup playoff series played this tightly again.

(Unless of course, it’s St. Louis and Los Angeles in the upcoming Western Conference semifinals.)

For the first time in Stanley Cup playoff history, all seven games of a series were decided by a single goal. Four games – the first two and the last two – went into overtime.

A total of 450 minutes and 28 seconds of hockey were played in this series. And for 308 minutes and 47 seconds of that time, the score was tied. That represents more than two-thirds of the entire series.

The Caps had the only two-goal lead of the entire seven-game set. It came in Game 5, and it lasted all of 2:54.

“Well, no doubt, it’s made it an interesting series,” says Julien of the closeness of the seven games. “I think when people watch these kind of games, and our games went into overtime and stuff like that, but again, I don’t know why people would even think that it would have been one-sided.

“When you look at their team, and I mentioned numerous times, I don’t believe they’re a seventh place team. There’s too much talent on that team to be that, and they righted the ship at the right time, and they’re playing some great hockey right now, and that’s what it seems to be all about in the playoffs nowadays.

“When you look at the teams that have been knocked out, it’s whoever’s playing their best hockey at the right time, and the parity shows, and then the team that’s on top of their games seems to be winning the series right now.”

The Longest Lead – From the time Hendricks scored at 11:23 of the first period until Tyler Seguin’s tying tally for the Bruins at 14:27 of the second period, the Caps held a lead for 23:04. That represents the longest either team held onto any lead at any point in the entire series.

Alternating Tallies – The Capitals and Bruins combined for a total of just 31 goals in the seven games, 16 by Washington and 15 by Boston. The last 13 of those 31 goals were scored in alternating fashion, one by Boston and one by Washington, right up to the end of the series. The Bruins scored twice in a span of 28 seconds late in the second period of Game 5. The second of those two goals – from forward Brad Marchand – started the sequence of 13 alternating goals from the two teams.

Been There Before – Half of Washington’s franchise total of 10 Game Sevens has been played in the last five springs. The Caps’ current core is now 2-3 in the five Game Sevens in which they’ve played together, starting with the loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2008 Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Streak Stopped – Hendricks’ goal ended Thomas’ Game 7 shutout streak at 139:03. Thomas had pitched consecutive Game 7 shutouts – against Vancouver and Tampa Bay last spring – prior to Wednesday’s series finale.

Star In The Making – Sophomore Bruins forward Tyler Seguin was quiet early in the series but he came on late and was quite a handful for the Capitals to contend with in the final two games.

Seguin scored the overtime game-winner in Game 6 that forced the series back to Boston and he also supplied the Bruins’ lone tally of Game 7. Seguin led the Bruins with seven shots on goal in Wednesday’s series finale.

Over the final 74:17 of the series, Seguin was the only Bruins to solve Holtby.

Down On The Farm – The AHL Hershey Bears were in action on Wednesday night at Giant Center, attempting to stave off elimination in their best-of-five, first-round Calder Cup series with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Hershey got it done, needing overtime to take a 4-3 decision over the Baby Pens and force a Game 4 on Friday night at Giant Center. Ryan Potulny scored at 2:57 of the extra session – the exact same time at which Ward’s overtime game-winner was scored – to keep the Bears’ season alive.

D.J. King scored his first goal as a member of the Capitals’ organization, and Cameron Schilling netted the first goal of his pro career for the Bears. Kyle Greentree also scored for Hershey. Dany Sabourin made 26 saves in goal to earn the victory.

With Wednesday’s win, Hershey avoided being swept in the first round in a best-of-five set for the first time since 1966.

By The Numbers – Mike Green led the Caps with 24:55 in ice time … Alzner skated 3:57 of the six minutes in which Washington was shorthanded on the night to lead the team … Chimera, Hendricks, Ward and Roman Hamrlik led the Caps with three shots on goal each … Hendricks paced the Caps with six hits … Carlson led the way with five blocked shots … Jay Beagle won seven of 10 (70%) face-offs to lead the Capitals.

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