As unbelievable as it may seem, we are fast approaching the five-year anniversary of the Capitals’ Stanley Cup win. To celebrate, over the next two months we’re going to be taking you on a journey back in time to that magical run – reliving every game, five years to the day from when it was first played.
So strap in for the ups and downs, highs and lows, all leading up to a celebration of the greatest moment in franchise history.
(And if you missed Game 1 of the first round, you can relive the magic here.)
The Series:
Eastern Conference Round 1 – Capitals (2) vs. Blue Jackets (7); Jackets lead, 1-0
The Setting:
April 15, 2018 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC
Game in a Nutshell:
Game 1 of this first round didn’t exactly end on a high note, with the Caps blowing a couple of leads en route to an overtime loss at home. The team seemed determined to put that rocky start behind them, jumping out to a 1-0 lead just over two minutes into the first period. The goal-scorer? Jay Beagle, who made his return to the lineup after being out since the start of the month.
Later in the first, it was a much more likely name finding the back of the net, as none other than Alex Ovechkin picked up his first of the playoffs on the power play to give the Caps a 2-0 lead. Another first-period, two-goal lead… what could go wrong?
(Note: This is not a question that Caps fans should ever, EVER ask.)
Well, first, shortly after Ovechkin’s goal, Andre Burakovsky left the game with an upper-body injury – the first of many bumps and bruises the Caps would accumulate this spring. Then Cam Atkinson cut the Caps’ lead to one just five minutes after Ovechkin’s strike, and all around Capital One Arena, you could feel the tension rise a little. You know the feeling. That “here we go again…” sensation. It’s practically like oxygen in DC.
But maybe this time was different, as Ovechkin – clearly answering a challenge set by both himself and his coach to be better after Game 1 – restored the two-goal cushion on the power play, collecting a ridiculous cross-ice pass from Nicklas Backstrom and firing the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky.
That was a good moment. Then… well, things got bad. First Bobrovsky made some key saves, including a huge one on Backstrom, again on the power play. Then the Blue Jackets got a 5-on-2 rush – FIVE ON TWO – and cashed in, Josh Anderson bringing Columbus back within one again. A few minutes later, it was Atkinson once more, getting a power-play goal of his own to tie things up at three. And with just over a minute left in the period, with Devante Smith-Pelly in the box on a holding-the-stick penalty, Zach Werenski also got into the power-play action, giving the Blue Jackets their first regulation lead of the series.
That was all Barry Trotz needed to see out of Philipp Grubauer, who had wrestled the starting netminder job away from Braden Holtby ahead of the postseason. Grubauer was on the bench to start the third, and Braden Holtby officially entered the chat.
This time it was the Caps who weren’t about to go down without a fight (although they certainly took their sweet time doing so). With the clock ticking away, Werenski fired a puck out of play, putting the Caps on the power play for the sixth time – and with less than five minutes to go in regulation, T.J. Oshie was there to bring his team back to life.
A seventh Caps’ power play in the final two minutes yielded nothing, however… and it was off to overtime for the second time in the first two games.
It got extra tense (y’know, because playoff overtime isn’t tense enough on its own) when Matt Niskanen found himself in the penalty box just under four minutes into the extra frame. Penalty killing wasn’t a strength for either team on this night, but thankfully the Caps survived being shorthanded.
Alas, that would be the only good news of the overtime period for the good guys. Because at the 12:22 mark of overtime, Matt Calvert got in front of Holtby and flung the puck up over his shoulder for the winner. A brief review delayed the inevitable, as the officials checked to see if the play was offside, but ultimately the call on the ice would stand and that was it. Despite putting 57 shots on Bobrovsky, the Caps would fall, at home, in overtime, to the Blue Jackets.
Down 2-0, there was nothing left to do but hit the road and hope for the best.
Condensed Game:
Defining Moment:
They Said It:
“Two games in overtime, that can really crush a team.” – Matt Calvert
“We’re disappointed and we’re mad. Yeah, we’re down 2-0 and obviously we’re playing a good hockey team. They’ve got two home games now. But we’re going to do everything to turn things around. There’s a lot of hockey left.” – Nicklas Backstrom
“You’re right now in hard position. But it’s going to be fun when we bounce back and [we’re] going to tie the series and come back here and play Game 5 at home.” – Alex Ovechkin
I’m ready for the Game 3 thread. Let’s Go!
After having gone to both Game 1 and Game 2, I walked out of this one the lowest I had felt since walking out after Round 4, Game 4 in 1998, thinking it was truly all over, and the whole thing actually needed to be blown up. Never in a million years at that moment would I have guessed what was to come…
I remember feeling the same. And thought to myself, “Of course, the Caps would be the first team who Columbus ever beat to advance in the playoffs. So on-brand for the Caps who did the same for the Devils years ago.” But then things turned around for the better in Game 3. (I confess I did not watch Game 3 of that series.)
Always darkest before the dawn.
So what was that instrumental piece that the Caps based their post season video upon?