Appearing in just their second Stanley Cup Final in franchise history, the Caps skated into Game 2 of their series against Vegas still looking for the team’s first-ever Final win, a chaotic series opener having fallen in the Knights’ favor.
To capture that first win, they’d need everyone on board, from their elite captain to their grizzled veteran blueliner. They’d need a bit of luck and some special teams dominance.
And they’d need the save of a lifetime.
Now one year later, a look back at this pivotal moment in the Caps’ Cup run.
Game 1 of the series was exciting, to say the least, but it probably can’t be said that it was good hockey – and it certainly can’t be said that the Caps played their best. Not for the first time, the odds and history both seem to be against the Caps.
Thankfully they’ll have plenty of support in their quest to defy history, as Caps fans from near and (very) far once again pour into Capital One Arena for a watch party…
…or head west to rock the red — and the occasional bedazzled jumpsuit — at T-Mobile:
Before the game, ownership attempts to break up those swaths of visitor red:
Narrator: It could not be done.
Among the many, many Caps fans at T-Mobile Arena, just hoping to see the team pick up their first Cup Final win? About 200 Monumental Sports employees, half of a group flown to Vegas by owner Ted Leonsis for the game and a night in Sin City.
Of course, not all DC-area residents are rooting for the visitors.
*cough*Traitor*cough*
Pregame
It didn’t take too long for the hockey world to learn that Vegas was not going to be your typical hockey city, and this apparently will be twice as true during the playoffs.
Nothing says hockey like feathers and sequins!
(Amazingly this will not be the least amount of clothing worn behind that exact glass during this series.)
(But more about that later.)
Meanwhile Brett Connolly steps in to sum up exactly how the Caps performed on the long and sometimes bumpy road that’s brought them to this point… and does a pretty good job of it, FCC fines be damned.
It’s almost time for puck drop — but before the hockey can begin, there is the usual subtlety that is the Vegas pregame show, followed by a performance by Vegas-born band Imagine Dragons:
Hey, that song sounded familiar.
8:16 p.m.
Start of 1st Period
1st period, 12:02 remaining
As was the case in Game 1, Vegas wastes little time getting on the board, something they’ve done on a regular basis during their surprising playoff run. This time around, they’re assisted by an unfortunate miss on an attempt to glove the puck by Dmitry Orlov; the puck instead bounces to a streaking James Neal, who snipes it top corner past Holtby for the 1-0 lead.
Oh, and by the way, Vegas is good when scoring first. So… there’s that.
Yes, dear friends, it appears as if the Caps have a bit of a mountain to climb once more.
1st period, 5:18 remaining
That mountain gets a bit steeper when late in the first period, Vegas’s Brayden McNabb lands a devastating hit on Evgeny Kuznetsov:
No call on the play, Kuznetsov leaves the game, and things are starting to look… bleak.
1st period, 2:33 remaining
But as has often been the case so far this postseason, when the Caps need someone to step up and be the hero, a hero emerges – and not for the first (or last) time, that hero is Lars Eller:
Crank it!
What a pass indeed. Goodness.
End of 1st Period: Caps 1, Golden Knights 1
Start of 2nd period
2nd period, 17:56 remaining
NHL officiating is perfect and infallible and never an issue in the playoffs, which is why the on-ice officials were 100% correct in issuing a two-minute penalty to Brooks Orpik for, um, being in the vicinity when James Neal decided to punch himself in the face:
That’s no way to talk to yourself, Mr. Neal.
2nd period, 14:22 remaining
The Caps emerge from Orpik’s “penalty” unscathed, and a few minutes later are granted their own chance with the extra man. Less than 30 seconds elapse on a minor to Alex Tuch before Eller collects a Backstrom pass and sets up a sneaky Alex Ovechkin for the go-ahead goal.
Amazing to think that despite his long and storied career, there are still “firsts” to accomplish, but there you have it – Alex Ovechkin’s very first career Cup Final goal.
And the crowd goes wild!
2nd period, 10:19 remaining
So we’ve had Eller playing the somewhat likely hero. We’ve had Ovechkin playing the likeliest of heroes. All that’s missing to round out the trio is the unlikeliest of heroes – so unlikely that even he didn’t think he’d be playing that role when the series began…
Enter Batya.
And the bench goes wild!
Speaking of difference makers, Eller picks up an assist on Orpik’s goal, his third point of the night – all earned since the departure of Kuznetsov.
2nd period, 2:33 remaining
The Caps have a two-goal lead, a lead that some clever pundits might say is the most dangerous lead in hockey.
Caps fans would probably say the same thing.
And so it comes to pass that the Caps’ two-goal lead shrinks to one when late in the second period, T.J. Oshie is sent to the box on an interference call and the Knights take just 20 seconds to cash in on a Shea Theodore wrister from the point.
A one-goal cushion headed into the third period of a Stanley Cup Final game? Hold onto your butts, folks.
End of 2nd Period: Caps 3, Golden Knights 2
Start of 3rd period
3rd period, 16:47 remaining
Clinging to a slim lead in the third period of a critical Game 2, a really good way to grab momentum and to hang onto it is to play smart and disciplined. No selfish plays, no fancy moves, no dumb penal-…
Oh.
3rd period, 15:55 remaining
Okay, so there’s a player in the box, but that’s not the end of the world. Time to lock things down and above all else avoid taking anoth-
*sigh*
So the Caps now find themselves shorthanded by two (not to mention without two of their better penalty-killers) with plenty of time for Vegas to tie this sucker up. These are the times in which past Caps’ squads have faltered, undone by blown leads and bad penalties.
Instead…
Huge. HUGE.
And it’s about to get bigger.
3rd period, 1:59 remaining
Penalties killed, the Caps start to tighten up defensively, holding Vegas without a shot for a stretch of over 10 minutes in the middle of the period until finally just a few minutes remain in regulation.
And then a seemingly innocent dump-in turns into chaos… and an iconic moment is born.
Mike Vogel describes the play as it unfolds:
Needless to say, Twitter is abuzz.
Fans at the DC watch party go berserk.
Meanwhile on the bench… yeah.
End of Game: Caps 3, Golden Knights 2; Caps even series 1-1
Postgame
After the game, much of the chatter is about that incredible Holtby save, and for good reason.
But the game boils down to much more than a single stop on a single play, as the man himself notes postgame:
This is a victory over 40 years in the making, the first time a Caps team has won a Stanley Cup Final game, and it’s an exhilarating moment – and just another step toward their ultimate goal.
In Vegas, the Caps prepare to fly back home; in DC, more than 14,000 rabid Caps fans watch the final seconds of the game on the Capital One Arena screen before taking the celebration to the streets.
All square at one win apiece, the series now shifts to DC – and there’s a feeling that something else has shifted, as well.
One down. Three more to go.