Asked if the Golden Knights were doubted more now or before the season, defenseman Nate Schmidt paused to think for a moment, then said, "Equal."
"Stuff that we've done this year had never been done," forward Jonathan Marchessault said. "So that's the thinking that we have."
There are plenty of reasons to think the Golden Knights won't defeat the Capitals. They must win three games in a row after losing three in a row, outscored 12-5. They have struggled with and without the puck, committing turnovers, failing to forecheck, missing chances, breaking down defensively and taking penalties. They haven't had puck luck either.
Teams trailing 3-1 in a best-of-7 Final have a series record of 1-32 and have lost 31 straight. The lone winners were the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who came back from 3-0 against the Detroit Red Wings, and there were extenuating circumstances. Red Wings coach Jack Adams assaulted the referee after Game 4 and was suspended the rest of the series.
Although coming back is unlikely, it's not impossible. Teams have done it more often in the playoffs since the introduction of the NHL salary cap. Ninety-six teams have trailed 3-1 in a series since the start of the 2006 playoffs. Twenty of them have forced a Game 7. Eight have won the series. In other words, series in this situation have gone to a Game 7 20.8 percent of the time, and the team trailing 3-1 has won 8.3 percent of the time.
A team came back from 3-1 and forced a Game 7 in these playoffs: the Toronto Maple Leafs, who ended up losing to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference First Round. The last team to blow a 3-1 lead and lose a series?
Washington.
The Capitals did it against the New York Rangers in the second round in 2015. They had many of the same players: Nicklas Backstrom, Jay Beagle, Andre Burakovsky, John Carlson, Braden Holtby, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik, Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson. Maybe they're a different team now, but they have to win one more game to prove it.
The Golden Knights have won four straight, not just three, against the same team twice in the playoffs. They did it when they swept the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference First Round, and they did it again when they lost Game 1 to the Winnipeg Jets in the conference final and won the series in five.
"It shows you can do it," coach Gerard Gallant said. "We've done it against good hockey teams. So you play our game, you get some breaks, and you keep working hard. Hopefully it turns for us."
