365 days ago, the Washington Capitals won their first Stanley Cup Finals game in franchise history.
The Washington Capitals dropped a high-scoring Game 1 6-4 to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena and needed a win to even the series going back to D.C. Game 2 was just as fast paced and exciting. It just wasn’t high scoring.
It came down to defense, goals from unlikely heroes and a heroic save that will go down in Capitals lore for generations to come.
The momentum at first was with the newest team in the NHL. An expansion team that calls home a place that is more known for it’s gambling. The big sport of choice? Betting.
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But this was an expansion team loaded with talent and they rode that Cinderella story all the way to the finals. Vegas is also known for shows and if you pay admission for a ticket in that building you get two for the price of one. Or maybe not since Stanley Cup Final tickets were expensive.
A pregame show complete with Excalibur-like combats, sword fighting, and even catapult launching. It was cool at first but in the finals, some Caps fans were annoyed becuase they just wanted to drop the puck.
Once it did, the battle began.
James Neal put the Golden Knights up 1-0 at 7:58. As if the start wasn’t bad enough for the Capitals, Evgeny Kuznetsov was hit at the boards by Brayden McNabb. Kuznetsov left the game and didn’t return. His night was over.
Late in the first period the momentum shifted towards the visitors thanks to Lars Eller burying a cross-pass from Michal Kempny.
1-1 at the first intermission and despite the rest, the momentum was still there with the Caps when they re-entered the ice in the second period.
On the power play at 5:38, an Alex Ovechkin one-timer from near the door of his office put the Capitals ahead 2-1. That was Ovechkin’s first goal on hockey’s grandest stage. And it wouldn’t be the last.
Then, BATYA.
Brooks Orpik, the biggest veteran on the team who had done it before as a member of the Capitals biggest rivals gave the Capitals a 3-1 lead for good measure. This was Orpik’s first goal since Feb. 26, 2016 in a game against the Minnesota Wild.
That goal was important because Vegas got within one late in the second on a power play from Shea Theodore. The third period started out fast paced and nail biting. It was clear this would be a fight to the finish.
The pregame show was elaborate and long. But the action on the ice had a moment where time stood still in the final minutes.
With a minute and fifty nine seconds the hearts of Caps fans everywhere stopped. Former Capital Cody Eakin had a wide-open Alex Tuch. Tuch had an even wider-open net right in front of him. This one will need overtime, hold your breaths right?
Not quite. Not that year.
Oh my. Did Braden Holtby just do that?
Holtby was posted on the left side of the net getting ready to go down to make the save butterfly style. This came after a jump scare bounce from the boards behind him before the perfect opportunity for Eakin.
As Holtby went butterfly he had to shift when he realized the puck was going to his right. Holtby had a split second to stretch out his stick with his right hand and just stop the puck with his paddle.
Ovechkin’s face was the same reaction of Caps fans everywhere. The final minutes ticked down and that was it. Game over. Series tied at 1. This one is coming back to the District.
Nobody knew at the time it happened how big that save was. As Washington kept winning, one game closer than the next to the ultimate prize, everyone started to realize the historical significance. The Capitals won Game 2 and didn’t look back since.