Up 3-1, the Washington Capitals had a chance to end their Eastern Conference playoff semifinal series with the New York Rangers on Friday night. The game ended in a 2-1 overtime loss.
On Sunday night, the Capitals had yet another chance to eliminate the Rangers and advance to the Conference finals. It didn't happen, as the Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead and never looked back en route to a 4-3 victory to force Game 7.
Despite the blown chances to put the series away, Alex Ovechkin remains as confident as ever that his Caps will move on; so much so that he's guaranteeing a Game 7 victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
"We're going to come back and win the series," Ovechkin told reporters, including ESPN, after the Capitals' 4-3 Game 6 loss to the Rangers on Sunday night. "We're going to play our game, and we're going to come back and we're going to play Montreal or Tampa."
While the only guarantee that Rangers' fans recognize is Mark Messier's guarantee prior to Game 6 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, Ovechkin did seem hell-bent with his vow. But anybody can guarantee anything. Making good on it is a different story.
Nevertheless, Ovechkin's guarantee generated plenty of reaction on Twitter.
a guarantee is only reliable as the person who makes it..thats cool ovi.give #NYR some bulletin board fodder.. https://t.co/1Mh8XZrjDe
— Antonio Patrick (@BroskieNation) May 11, 2015
What do you expect Ovechkin to say? "No, we're going to lose and I let whole team down" — Judson (@JudsonK217) May 11, 2015
Is it just me, or was Ovechkin's "guarantee" the least confident sounding guarantee in the history of sports guarantees #NHLPlayoffs
— Drew Way (@Drews_Way) May 11, 2015
When you hear Ovechkin guarantees a win in game 7 pic.twitter.com/91XfadrOHx — Kevin Basler (@Lil_Baze) May 11, 2015
However you feel about playoff guarantees, Ovechkin's promise did seem to come as a knee-jerk reaction to having lost two straight playoff games. But as one Twitter user pointed out, what is he supposed to say, right? Wednesday night, he'll have his chance to live up to that guarantee.
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