Hub City Horrors (Diary of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs)

Yanni Gourde's Diary: Monday, August 3, 2020

Toronto, Canada

Eastern Conference, Hotel X

As we're preparing to faceoff this afternoon in Toronto against the Washington Capitals, Kuch struts into the locker room with his head held high. On either side of him is Mikhail Sergachev and Ondrej Palat.

"Alright, don't fuck this up for me! I like to always have the bragging rights on Ovi. We can't let him score AT ALL!" Kuch announces. "If he so much as sniffs at the net today with a shot, I'll scream. Capiche?"

Brayden gets up and walks over to him. "No worries, we got this, buddy!" He puts his hand firmly on the Russian's shoulder.

"Good! I want to be able to rub a win and maybe a few goals in his face afterward." He smirks and heads to his stall.

"Alright, let's do this thing!" Pat Maroon howls out.

This is generally how it always goes when we faceoff against the Capitals. Kuch gives a speech about besting Ovi and not being embarrassed and then someone shouts out 'let's do the thing.' So, we finish getting ready and go through the warmups.

My line starts off with good pressure in the zone. The game starts off really fast paced and with a good tempo. And we're playing against the Capitals!

This pressure and good start leads to a goal from Kuch to put us up 1-0.

He excitedly comes to the bench and fist bumps us with a Russian, "Spasibo." It's the only Russian word I know. It means 'thank you.'

Not long after the goal, I find myself back out on the ice with Goodrow and Pickles. Goodrow is lit up for a Capital, while I race into the zone with Pickles. The whistle blows and Kuznetsov goes after Pickles. They jostle one another for a little bit, before it is broken up and everyone settles down again.

Tony's line takes the ice. He attempts to hit Ovi into the boards and I glance over quickly to see Kuch's reaction. He's leaning forward in his spot, eagerly watching. It leads to another brief scrum, involving Johnny.

He's called for roughing as well as a Capital player.

Then Misha takes an interference penalty.

During the PK, Oshie is able to knock Heddy's stick out of his hands and Cernak jostles with a Capital player.

But the penalty is killed off.

The clock winds down to the final minutes of the period, when Ovi and Tom Wilson decide to sandwich Kuch between them. He bounces back luckily and taps Ovi on the pads as he heads to the bench.

Shortly after the buzzer sounds to end play and we head to the locker rooms.

The second period kicks off with a hard hit by Tom Wilson on McDonaugh. Cernak takes exception to it and goes after Wilson, jostling behind the net. It draws a penalty on Cernak unfortunately, but it's worth it.

At least I think so. Don't mess with Donut!

We quickly kill off the penalty and I take the ice for an extended checking shift. After all, my game is very much centered around being a puck hound and jumping on players with the puck to poke it free and get it to my teammates.

I head to the bench, having started another tight zone penetration for us. Hathaway goes after Pat Maroon as I finish getting a drink.

I soon find myself back on the ice, working nicely with my poke-checking and board work to get the puck to Pickles for a decent shot and chance.