You can block a hockey puck with your stick or your body. One is considerably more painful than the other, and neither will get you onto a “SportsCenter” highlight reel.
Yet for all the categories the Washington Capitals led in their 3-1 Game 3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, their advantage in blocked shots — 26 to 9 — might be singularly illustrative of the Capitals’ all-in playoff mentality.
“If you want to win, you gotta do the not-so-sexy things and that’s one of the things. It’s not exactly fun, but you gotta do it if you really want to win,” Devante Smith-Pelly said.