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.
Follow along with all of our “Five Years Ago Today…” recaps here.
The Series:
Eastern Conference Round 2 – Capitals (1) vs. Penguins (2); Caps lead 3-2
The Setting:
May 7, 2018 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA
Game in a Nutshell:
The time had come. The Caps headed back to Pittsburgh with a 3-2 series lead in hand and their eyes on their first Eastern Conference Final appearance 20 years earlier. To take that next step, they’d be battling both demons and injuries:
So. Caps are without three of their regular top-six forwards. Five rookies in the lineup. Two are making their playoff debut.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) May 7, 2018
If Caps lose and this goes to G7, don't think there will be any shame in that. If they win, gosh that would be impressive.
But maybe this year would be different. Maybe the Caps could find it within themselves to do what few have before them, to not only beat the Penguins (for just the second time in franchise history) but also advance to the ECF (for just the third time). A lot of things would have to go just right for it to happen.
And all that was left was to play the damn game.
The first period had some of the typical jitters you’ll find in an elimination game, with each team taking a single penalty and both goalies (and the posts) coming up big to keep things scoreless through 20.
On to the second period, where the unlikeliest of unlikely heroes emerged to give the Caps a 1-0 lead: Alex Chiasson.
Through the first 11 games of the playoffs, Chiasson had yet to register a point, and in fact had not had a point in the postseason since 2014 when he was with the Dallas Stars. Picking up helpers on the play were equally unlikely heroes Jay Beagle, who chipped the puck into the offensive zone, and Nathan Walker, who outhustled Kris Letang to grab the puck and bring it around the back of the net. Walker then found Chiasson basically alone at the right circle, and Chiasson took his shot, which somehow…went in.
Sure.
So that one, Murray lets in. Over the course of the rest of the period, however, he stands tall, turning aside some significant chances from the Caps, including a Jakub Vrana breakaway and a four-on-two chance by the Eller line (that, yes, actually results in a couple of shots on goal).
Yes, the Caps were tilting the ice a bit, and they had their chances. But clinging to a one-goal lead, it would only take one shot to tie things up – and unfortunately for them, that one shot came from Kris Letang, whose point shot just past the halfway mark of the second would even the score at one.
On to the third, where it continued to be the goalie show – particularly Murray, who would face down nine shots from the Caps (with Holtby seeing just five from the Penguins at the other end). We had ourselves an old-fashioned goalie duel, and for the first time in this series, 60 minutes would not be enough.
We head…to overtime.
In the long and painful history of Caps-Pens playoff overtimes, there have been a lot of names that can reduce Caps’ fans to a twitching ball of misery. Nedved. Guentzel. Bonino. Hornqvist. Letang. Even future Cap Conor Sheary. On this night, roughly three minutes into overtime, Tom Kühnhackl almost added his name to the register:
(If your heart didn’t stop in this moment, you may be a robot.)
From a near-tragic end, to a moment of glory just a few minutes later.
Letang gets the puck up out of the defensive zone toward Sidney Crosby, who is lurking just outside the Caps’ blue line. Crosby fumbles the puck a bit, and then has it poked away from his stick by Evgeny Kuznetsov. The puck bounces to Dmitry Orlov, who passes it over to Alex Ovechkin. Kuznetsov takes off up the middle, Ovechkin finding him with the puck right at center ice. Kuznetsov then slips right through the Pens’ defensive pair of Letang and Brian Dumoulin, moves in alone on Murray, and – much like he did in Game 5 – slips the puck right through Murray’s legs.
Let’s look at that a few more times from a few more angles, shall we?
Game over. Series over. Or in the immortal words of the great John Walton…
THE DEMONS HAVE BEEN EXORCISED. GOOD MORNING, GOOD AFTERNOON, AND GOOD NIGHT PITTSBURGH! WE’RE GOIN’ TO TAMPA BAY!
Nothing left to do (for one night, at least), but celebrate – and breathe a sigh of relief. The Caps were moving on.
Condensed Game:
Defining Moment:
Duh.
They Said It:
“We believe in each other. It doesn’t matter what happened [in the past]. We have to stick together. We knew it was there. We just had to battle, and we just had to fight through it. Again, great feeling right now and we’re going forward.” – Alex Ovechkin
“They were just the better team. I thought they played a heck of a game tonight. It didn’t feel like we really had many chances at all. They’re a great team and they showed it. They deserved to win tonight.” – Matt Murray
“[Nathan Walker] play unbelievable. That little m***erf***er.” – Evgeny Kuznetsov
“[Secondary scoring] has always been (important) for whoever goes deep, whoever goes far. You need the fourth line, the third line to chip in. You need everybody to contribute. We got those things from those people this series.” – Lars Eller
“It sucks. That’s for sure. We didn’t have enough.” – Bryan Rust
“This group has been resilient. … The great thing about this is all day I knew we were going to win. I don’t know why, but this group has a lot of resiliency.” – Barry Trotz
“#ItsOktoBelieve” – @johnwaltonpxp
Additional Reading:
- Road Closure [Caps]
- Capitals beat Penguins as Washington reaches Eastern Conference finals, D.C. rejoices [WaPo]
- Take Today [Rink]
- Capitals defeat Penguins in Game 6, advance to Eastern Conference Final [NHL]
- Secondary scoring gave the Capitals the edge over the Penguins [The Athletic]
- Five reasons the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated by the Washington Capitals [CBS Sports]
- Capitals’ win puts a dagger in the D.C. sports ‘curse’ [WaPo]
- The stupidest streak in sports is dead, thanks to the Caps. Bye. [WaPo]
- Evgeny Kuznetsov’s overtime goal: Watch it, listen to it, never forget it [WaPo]
- Washingtonians go bonkers after Caps’ overtime win [WaPo]
- Evgeny Kuznetsov’s overtime goal was eerily similar to Dale Hunter’s 30 years ago [WaPo]
- That Caps win was Washington’s biggest since … [WaPo]
- The other two times the Capitals advanced to the conference finals [WaPo]
- Capitals Wing Nathan Walker Became First Australian Player to Appear in Playoff Game [SI]
And finally, this: