The emotional volatility inherent in a Game 7 is unlike anything in professional sports, equal for both sides on the field, court or, in this case, ice. One team wins and receives at least four more games, another breath of life after its previous series reached the maximum. The other team loses and begins an early summer, left to heal their bodies, recount the season and watch what they’ve missed on television.
“They’re the games you want to play in, really,” defenseman Mike Green said.
Monday night will mark the first Game 7 of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, the first winner-take-all meeting featuring the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders since 1986-87, a fitting conclusion to perhaps the opening round’s tightest, most hotly contested conference quarterfinal.