Capitals: When they came out of Columbus with a series tie

Since there’s no Washington Capitals hockey let’s relive one game from the Stanley Cup run where we first caught a glimpse of their dominance.

Down 0-2. Same old. Same old. Here we go again. But the Washington Capitals refused to go down. When Lars Eller won the game in double overtime in Game 3 it was the first sign of life for the boys in red (well technically white since they were on the road).

It was the most beautiful, ugly goal we’ve seen for quite some time and for once as Caps fans, we got the first bounce to go our way. How would they follow that up?

This game came just two days after Eller’s heroics and the Capitals cruised to a 4-1 win to even up the series at two games apiece. It gave the Caps even more momentum and we all know what happened after that.

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• Revisiting The Start of This Capitals vs Hurricanes Rivalry

The Caps special teams came up big early killing off a hooking penalty 34 seconds into the game that was committed by Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Kuznetsov would later connect with Tom Wilson at 6:16 for the game’s first goal. It was a rocket from way downtown, a wind up of a slapshot and it was enough to rattle Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Sergei Bobrovsky as it sailed over his glove.

The Caps got their third power play opportunity in the second period and cashed in after Artemi Panarin was called for slashing. On a loose puck in front of the net after John Carlson kept the puck in, Alex Ovechkin and Kuznetsov each took whacks at the puck.

It wound up off Bobrovsky’s blocker to the stick of T.J. Oshie and he buried it in to make it 2-0 at 9:19. That would be the score after 40 minutes.

In the third the Caps tripled their lead thanks to none other than Ovechkin. This one came on a shot from the right face-off circle off a quick feed from Kuznetsov and he had quite the celly that’s now gif worthy. Wilson had the secondary assist.

The Blue Jackets would get one back at 6:22 from Boone Jenner but other than that misstep Braden Holtby stood tall in his second start of the playoffs regaining his role in the starter’s net since the beginning of Game 3. Holtby stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced for a .958 save percentage.

Kuznetsov would put the game away on an empty net goal to seal the 4-1 win and even the series heading back to D.C. Hope you enjoyed this Throwback Thursday post. Check out more retro game stories and Caps alumni reviews on the history section of Stars and Sticks!