The Latest from Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights (all times local):
9:40 p.m.
The Washington Capitals got three goals in the first period of Game 4 and are spending much of the second period making sure the lead stands up against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Striving to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final Authentic Avonte Maddox Jersey , the Capitals have killed a pair of power plays to maintain a three-goal cushion.
Vegas has a 20-13 advantage in shots on goal, but Washington has goals from T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly.
The Capitals have not trailed at any point since their Game 1 loss.
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9:30 p.m.
High schooler Jack Merritt threw a crab on the ice after Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final and hopes it becomes a Washington Capitals tradition.
The 15-year-old from Chevy Chase, Maryland, said before Game 4 that a crab is better than the ”stupid” plastic flamingo thrown onto the ice to celebrate Vegas Golden Knights wins. He knows all about the plastic rats in Florida, the octopi in Detroit and the catfish in Nashville. He wants crabs to be a thing at Capital One Arena after Washington victories.
Merritt bought a crab from a local restaurant before Game 3 and brought it into the arena with hope. He got down to the lower bowl from his upper-deck seats and managed to get the crab on the ice after the Capitals beat the Golden Knights 3-1 to take a 2-1 series lead.
Without tickets to Game 4, Merritt only hopes someone else follows his lead.
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9:10 p.m.
Capitals fans had plenty to cheer about during the first period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final after goals by T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly.
They also got to cheer during a TV timeout.
Two months after the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crash killed 16 in Canada, forward Kaleb Dahlgren from the Saskatchewan junior league was shown on video screens at Capital One Arena.
Dahlgren got a nice reaction from the crowd and then a roar when he lifted up his yellow Humboldt jersey to reveal a red Capitals jersey.
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9 p.m.
The Washington Capitals have taken a 3-0 lead into the first intermission of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Washington is looking to take a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-7 series.
Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly both scored in the final four minutes of the period after T.J. Oshie put the Capitals on top with a power-play goal 9:56 into the game.
Wilson is known for hard checks and time spent in the penalty box, but on this occasion he beat Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with a shot from the slot at 3:58. Not long after that, Smith-Pelly scored from a tough angle on the left side after a weird bounce.
Earlier, with the game scoreless and the Golden Knights on the power play Rick Leonard Jersey Elite , Vegas winger James Neal hit the post in front of an open net.
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8:35 p.m.
T.J. Oshie has given Washington an early 1-0 lead over Vegas in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Evgeny Kuznetsov’s shot off Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury rebounded to Oshie in front of the net and he jammed it home on the power play 9:54 into the first period.
The Golden Knights look much quicker on offense than in Game 3, when they took only 22 shots. James Neal missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring, hitting the right post when firing at an open net.
It is the third straight game the Capitals have scored first and they have won the last two for a 2-1 series lead.
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8:20 p.m.
The puck has dropped, and Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final is under way in the nation’s capital with Vegas trying to even the series against Washington at 2-2.
The Golden Knights are starting Tomas Tatar in place of David Perron, who was scratched. Perron has not scored a goal in 14 playoff games.
The atmosphere was electric before the game. Max Scherzer and Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals baseball team were introduced as the ”Fans of the Game.” Nationals slugger Bryce Harper, who grew up in Las Vegas, was wearing a white Golden Knights Jersey.
The fans waved white glow sticks and waved towels before the national anthem.
Game 5 is Thursday in Las Vegas.
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6:25 p.m.
Red-clad fans are filling the streets of Chinatown before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights.
Fall Out Boy is playing the pregame concert at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, two days after Sting and Shaggy. The strains of ”My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark” could be heard blocks away over the sound of scalpers looking for hard-to-find tickets.
According to Ticket IQ, the cheapest Game 4 tickets are up almost $400 from last week. The cheapest tickets available on Ticket IQ and StubHub are more than $1,000 each.
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4:40 p.m.
The Vegas Golden Knights are making at least one lineup change for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final by plugging in offensive-minded winger Tomas Tatar.
Vegas has scored three goals against the Washington Capitals in the past two games and fallen behind 2-1 in a series for the first time in the playoffs. Coach Gerard Gallant says he hopes Tatar adds some offense and speed to a group that lacked both in a Game 3 loss Saturday.
Tatar has not played since Game 3 of the Western Conference final against Winnipeg. It looked as if Tatar would replace struggling winger David Perron in Game 4, though Gallant on Monday refused to confirm that scratch and alluded to at least one other possible move.
The Golden Knights traded a 2018
The Cincinnati Reds are much better now than they were a month into the season, and it’s partly because Anthony DeSclafani is much better than they anticipated.
The Reds return to Great American Ball Park on Thursday to take on the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, but that’s nothing new of late for interim manager Jim Riggleman’s resurgent team.
The Reds have played their last seven games against teams that were in first place or within percentage points of the top spot. They swept the Cubs in four games and won two of three in Atlanta.
“It says a lot for our club that we can play first-place clubs and win these series,” Riggleman said Wednesday following a come-from-behind 6-5 win at Atlanta, the Reds’ ninth victory in 10 games and 12th victory in 15 games.
“(We want to) keep rolling into Cincinnati,” Adam Duvall said after his two-run single keyed a three-run seventh inning that included a Scooter Gennett RBI single.
DeSclafani (3-1, 4.09 ERA) is a big presence during the surge, and not just because he’s won his last three starts — this after missing all of last season and the first two months of this season with multiple injuries. After missing so much time, the Reds simply weren’t sure what they would get from him this season.
His last time out, the right-handed DeSclafani limited the Cubs to two runs and three hits in 6 1/3 innings, and he contributed the game’s biggest hit Saturday with a grand slam — the first slam by a Cincinnati pitcher in 59 years.
DeSclafani will be yet another bat in the Reds’ order that Milwaukee right-hander Junior Guerra (3-5 Authentic J'Mon Moore Jersey , 2.82) must be concerned about in the opener of the four-game NL Central series.
The Brewers continue to occupy first place in the division, but even a three-run ninth inning wasn’t enough Wednesday as they lost 5-4 at home to the last-place Kansas City Royals, whose .313 winning percentage is the second-worst in the majors.
“Even in our losses, we’re making the other team work a lot,” starting pitcher Brent Suter told reporters. “From that respect, I love how we’re playing. (But) it would be nice to win some of these series.”
The Brewers have lost six of their last 10 games, and now they must take on a Reds team that doesn’t look anything now like the team Milwaukee swept in a three-game series April 30-May 2 at Great American Ball Park — losses that dropped the Reds to 7-24. The Brewers have won five of six overall from the Reds this season.
“We just want to keep winning. If we take series after series we’re going to be just fine,” said Reds reliever Jackson Stephens (2-0), who got the win Wednesday with 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings.
The Brewers, conversely, led 1-0 Wednesday, only to have Suter and reliever Josh Hader give up five runs in the seventh inning. Hader allowed a two-run single to Adalberto Mondesi Cole Beasley Cowboys Jersey , Lucas Duda’s sacrifice fly and Whit Merrifield’s RBI single — the first time in 27 games this season Hader has given up more than one hit in an inning.
“Josh’s velocity was good. Everything was good,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. “He threw the ball well. They jumped on the first pitch, and we’ve seen that a lot lately, but he’s been so effective that obviously multiple hits in an inning is something we haven’t seen. They got him today.”
The Reds certainly didn’t get to Guerra when they faced him on April 17.
Guerra didn’t get the decision in a 2-0 Brewers win, but he shut out the Reds on one hit over 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven and walking three. In his career, he is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA against Cincinnati in five games, including four starts.
Most of the current Reds hitters have only a minimal number of at-bats against Guerra, with Eugenio Suarez going 2-for-3 with a homer.
DeSclafani is 2-2 with a 4.15 ERA in five games against the Brewers, starting four of them, but hasn’t faced them since 2016. Ryan Braun is 2-for-10 (.200) against him. .