Washington Capitals: Top 3 worst moments of 2021 season
The Washington Captials had another season of failure in 2021 as the team couldn’t get past the second round. There was plenty of lowlights along the way along with plenty of highlights. If you want the happier stuff you can read the best moments here.
Read on for the worst moments of the season, times when the Caps had a lead but simply blew it. Or just simply suffered another first round flame out. The Caps simply couldn’t get the job done in these moments and they were exposed badly by the Boston Bruins and others from the Pittsburgh Penguins to even the Buffalo Sabres.
#3 An overtime loss to the Penguins
In a night when the screaming eagle reverse retro jersey made it’s debut, the Penguins spoiled the night with a 3-2 overtime win. On the power play in the first period the Penguins took the lead at 6:41 with a goal in front of the net by Evgeni Malkin.
In the second the Caps answered with two goals. At 4:38, Richard Panik glided to the net to tie the game. At 13:19 a snipe from Conor Sheary gave the Caps the lead.
Jake Guentzel would tie the game 22 seconds later and Kasperi Kapanen would win the game in overtime.
#2 Blowing a 3-0 lead to the Bruins
On Feb. 1 the Caps had a home game against the Boston Bruins. In that contest, they blew a 3-0 lead. It’s a good thing there were no fans there to see that debacle.
Zdeno Chara got revenge against his former team with a goal at 13:26. It came on a slapshot from downtown. 11 seconds later, Daniel Sprong doubled the lead with a snipe in front of the net. 2-0 was the score after 20.
At 8:35 John Carlson ripped a shot up the middle to make it 3-0 in the second period. Then the Bruins answered for five straight goals. It started with a goal from David Pastrnak at 12:37 in the second period.
In the third period Pastrnak added his second goal of the game at 6:08. Then Craig Smith tied the game. Brandon Carlo gave the Bruins the lead. Brad Marchand put the game away with an empty netter.
Peter Laviolette said after the game in an article by Samantha Pell of The Washington Post (subscription required):
“The third period and the goals they scored were — I don’t like the fact that we weren’t attacking as much. The three goals and the manner in which they happened, it seemed like on each instance we lost coverage, we lost a man for different reasons.”
#1 First round flameout, act three
The number one worst moment of the 2021 season was when it came to a bitter end on May 23rd in Game 5 against the Boston Bruins. After winning Game 1 in a game winning goal by Nic Dowd in overtime, the Caps would drop the next four games beginning with Game 2 in overtime.
The Caps would drop Game 3 in double in double overtime then proceed to get smacked in Game 4. Game 5 the Bruins put the final nail in the coffin at Capital One Arnea. After a scoreless first period, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron.
The Caps got on the board 11 seconds into the third with a goal from Conor Sheary. The Bruins answered later in the period with Bergeron’s second goal of the game.
There was also a bitter feeling of knowing that the final horn from that game marked the end of Alex Ovechkin‘s 13 year contract. It very well could’ve been his last game in a Capitals sweater but Laviolette doesn’t think so. In an article by Samantha Pell of The Washington Post, Laviolette said:
“I’d like to think he’s going to be back. This is his team.”
Ovechkin had the team lead in the playoffs with two goals along with the podcast bros Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway. Laviolette added:
“There has got to be responsibility on our end to press more and push more, and at the end of the day it wasn’t good enough. There is a lot of things you need to be able to move on and continue to move on, and offense is one of them, and we weren’t able to get that done.”
Next. Washington Capitals Grades: Dmitry Orlov 2021 Report Card. dark
What were your top 3 worst moments of the season? Let us know in the comments and rant on about which moments will traumatize you all summer.