Washington Capitals: When Joe Jueneau Scored in Overtime to Send Team to Finals
We all know that one year ago the Washington Capitals were en route to winning their first Stanley Cup but 20 years prior to that was a big run of it’s own. The biggest goal in Capitals history came from Joe Juneau.
On June 4, 1998 the Washington Capitals were in Buffalo holding a 3-2 series lead and a chance at getting to uncharted territory for the first time in franchise history. Joe Juneau would punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final in overtime.
The first period was scoreless but it featured five penalties and a lot of physicality. The Capitals were staring at a 1-0 deficit when Michael Peca put the Sabres on the board at 13:04 in the second period. They answered 22 seconds later thanks to Esa Tikkanen. Mark Tinordi and Kelly Miller had the helpers.
In the third Paul Kruse put the Sabres in front at 7:40. The Capitals would get a power play chance at 12:17 when Brian Holzinger went to the sin bin for interference. They struck with a PPG from Peter Bondra. The goal came at 14:01 off a pass from Andrei Nikolishin.
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In overtime, Adam Oates picked the pockets of Michal Grosek. Oates’ forced turnover was picked up by Juneau, who darted toward the other side before firing the puck across to Brian Bellows entering the zone.
Bellows tried to beat “The Dominator”, Dominik Hasek but couldn’t. Hasek had trouble keeping track of the puck himself and couldn’t stop it stretching out his glove. Juneau was right there to pounce on the loose puck.
The Capitals had done it. They advanced to their first ever Stanley Cup Final. Hasek stopped 35-of-38 shots for a .921 save percentage. Olaf Kolzig, who would have his name engraved on the Cup 20 years later, stopped 39 of the 41 shots he faced for a .951 save percentage.
Even though the Capitals came up short in the Stanley Cup Final that year, getting swept in four games by a loaded Detroit Red Wings team, the run to the Final that summer of 1998 paved the way for the success the Caps have now.
What’s funny is 20 years from that night, the team was just one win away from the Stanley Cup. 20 years prior, they were just about to get started on the Stanley Cup spotlight.
Next. So close the Capitals could taste it. dark
It shows how far this franchise had come. 20 years was a long wait to get back but that 98′ team was just as important as the 2017-18 team. It can be done and that generation set the winning culture for future generations to come.