Top 10 Capitals moments of 2021
We are in the middle of a pause in the NHL season. Let’s just hope this one won’t be as long as the last one. In the meantime we can reflect on what the Washington Capitals have done this year and look ahead to what’s next when hockey returns. Knock on wood things will be back between Christmas and New Years.
It’s been a roller coaster of a year. We celebrated being able to attend games in person again, had a season’s worth of the Zdeno Chara experience, watch Alex Ovechkin do his thing and climb up the scoring ladder and watched kids get a chance to live out their NHL dreams. Let’s take a look at the best of the best.
#10 Zdeno Chara’s first Capitals goal
It was really cool having Zdeno Chara on the Capitals even though it only lasted for one season. His leadership helped retool the culture and his size and presence on the ice was unmatched.
The Capitals took on the New York Islanders on Jan. 28 and overcame a 3-0 deficit with six unanswered goals. Five came in the second period. Two came from Conor Sheary. Garnet Hathaway joined in on the fun as did John Carlson while Tom Wilson sealed it with the empty netter. However, it was Chara’s first and only goal on home ice that I remember the most that came at 18:30 of the second period.
The best part? Chara skating to the bench to group hug his teammates, his towering size and all.
#9 Nic Dowd’s overtime winner
Unfortunately this was the only playoff win of 2021 as the Capitals were bounced in the first round. This occurred in Game 1 and for a while it gave us a glimmer of hope.
Tom Wilson got the scoring started. Jake DeBrusk tied it. Brenden Dillon gave the Caps the lead before the Boston Bruins tied it back up on a power play goal from Nick Ritchie.
In overtime at 4:41 Nic Dowd deflected in a shot from T.J. Oshie to give the Caps the overtime win. What made this moment cool for Dowd is that he became the first player from Alabama to score a goal. Roll Tide, right? Lol.
Dowd is from Huntsville and there was even a cool moment at morning skate a few days ago where there were two youth hockey players who play hockey in Alabama because of Dowd’s impact in that community.
Dowd told Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic (subscription required):
“You just got to read the play. You have the opportunity to join the rush, you join the rush and you make a play, and we were fortunate enough to do that.”
Dowd’s a cool dude and he deserved to have that moment. We are fortunate to have him. He’s not Jay Beagle but he sure is close.
#8 A February win over the Penguins
The Capitals struggled last season against the Pittsburgh Penguins but they were able to get a win in this one. It was a 5-2 win that got contributions up and down the lineup back when the varsity guys were really healthy.
Nicklas Backstrom put the Caps up 1-0 in the first. T.J. Oshie doubled that lead but the Penguins came back thanks to a shorthanded goal from Brandon Tanev and the equalizer from Jake Guentzel.
The Caps would answer with three unanswered goals. The first came on the power play from none other than Tom Wilson. Carl Hagelin and Lars Eller put the game away with empty net goals.
Wilson’s game winner came after Kris Letang’s stick broke. He talked about the goal to Harvey Valentine of NHL.com:
“When a guy loses a stick it’s another advantage in our favor. We were able to execute and it was in the back of the net. That’s a fortunate break for us, but at the end of the day we’ve still got to put it in, and the power play did a good job to do that.”
Power play doing a good job? What? That’s one thing the Caps gotta improve on in 2022.
#7 Woke up and chose violence
On May 3 things got heated between the Capitals and New York Rangers and it made the rivalry between the two clubs even more intense. The Caps though handled things cool, calm, and collected. The Rangers did not. They even went the length of blasting the NHL over a Tom Wilson hit.
In that May 3 contest at Madison Square Garden, Tom Wilson got in altercations with Rangers forwards Pavel Buchnevich and Artemi Panarin. He punched Buchnevich while throwing down Panarin WWE style. It was what the Rangers called in a statement calling out the NHL a “horrifying act of violence”.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 4, 2021
Wilson got fined $5K. The Rangers got fined $250,000 for not only blasting the NHL but the head of the Department of Player Safety George Parros. Now that I think about it Caps fans will love me for including this memory. Caps haters and Rangers fans are going to come after me.
On the ice the Caps won 6-3 before the Rangers underwent an intense shakeup from the front office down. Nic Dowd, Conor Sheary, Garnet Hathaway, Daniel Sprong, and Nicklas Backstrom all scored. Everyone’s favorite, Wilson, ended it with the empty netter.
It all set the stage for an epic rematch two nights later.
#6 N1KY
This is one of those rare moments that resulted in a loss on the scoreboard. Despite the Caps falling to the Buffalo Sabres that night we all celebrated the milestone of Nicklas Backstrom reaching his 1,000th game. We sure wish though that we could’ve done it in person.
The Caps lost 5-2 with the two goals coming from Dmitry Orlov and Anthony Mantha. But this night was all about Nicky and his historic milestone, joining his bro Alex Ovechkin as the only other Capital to play 1,000 career NHL games all with the Caps.
The Caps pulled out all the stops that night. The players rolled up to the arena in N1KY t shirts and every player wore a navy blue number 19 jersey during pregame warmups. There were even a whole line of cardboard cutouts of Backstrom’s face in the hallway leading up to the locker room.
We also got to witness a pregame ceremony celebrating the achievement. He was joined on the ice by his fiancé Liza Berg, their daughters Haley (7) and Alizee (1), and son Vince (4) as well as Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan.
The video tribute was very moving:
“It’s fun to watch how you’re growing up as a person, as a player,” Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin said to Backstrom in the video tribute. “I wish you all the best to you and your family. Keep going and 1,000 more games to come.”
#5 Capital One Arena opening up to fans
In late April we finally got to see fans in the stands at Capital One Arena. Although it was a small capacity with the COVID restrictions, it was refreshing hearing real crowd noise and not the fake ones. Cardboard cutouts? Funny at first but now a thing of the past and hopefully it stays that way.
The Caps won the game that night over the New York Islanders 1-0 on a goal by Daniel Sprong 1:29 into the contest.
“You just had this sense of anticipation in the air once you got inside. Excitement. People laughing and talking. You could hear the excitement in their voices.”
TJ Poole said the fans didn’t skip a beat:
“The atmosphere is exactly what you would expect. It’s almost like the fans didn’t miss a beat with not being able to attend games for so long. LETS GO CAPS chants were happening almost every minute of the game. It’s almost like taking a breath of fresh air and being right where you belong. Even being at 10% capacity, it felt like a playoff game.”
#4 Ovi hat trick vs. Panthers
On Black Friday the Caps had a home contest against the Florida Panthers and Alex Ovechkin notched a hat trick in a 4-3 win.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored late in the first period to go up 1-0. The Caps would pour all the way back. Tom Wilson got a shorthanded goal. Ovechkin did the rest. First it was a power play goal at 2:50 then he scored again 56 seconds later. Ovechkin added his third at 4:02 as hats rained down at Capital One Arena in front of a full house.
It was Ovechkin’s 28th career hat trick. He even fist bumped his three year old son Sergei who was sitting behind the glass. Ovechkin told Samantha Pell of The Washington Post (subscription required):
“As a parent, it is always kind of fun to see your kid. … When they watch you playing, it is something special, so it’s a cool moment.”
Coach Peter Laviolette added:
“At the end of the day, O is delivering a lot of offense with the way he’s playing the game. Tonight was a perfect example. It was a big game, and we needed big guys to step up. He was really, really good.”
Ovechkin hasn’t slowed down and is making a serious case this season for another Hart Trophy.
#3 MSG Fight Night
This was a wild game that occurred on May 5 at The Garden. Two nights after Tom Wilson beat the hell out of Artemi Panarin, the New York Rangers issued a statement blasting the NHL (see slide 7 for more info on that night).
As a result tempers flared right at the opening draw as there was a forward line brawl as the fourth line of Carl Hagelin, Nic Dowd, and Garnet Hathaway all dropped their gloves with the likes of Colin Blackwell, Kevin Rooney and Phillip Di Giuseppe. Then Tom Wilson and Brendan Smith dropped the gloves 49 seconds later as Smith also got a misconduct and an instigator penalty.
The Caps and Rangers combined for 72 penalty minutes in all in just the first 4:14 of the game. On the ice the Caps kept their composure despite the fireworks. In the second period T.J. Oshie scored twice on the power play while Nic Dowd made it 3-0.
Oshie was playing with a heavy heart after the death of his father and with Coach watching from above, his son completed the hat trick with an empty net goal in the third period. It was easily the Caps best win from last season.
#2 Hockey Fights Cancer night
On Nov. 14 the Capitals hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins. Although the two are bitter rivals there was a moment before the game where each player stood side by side showing that we are all in the fight against cancer.
On the ice the Caps crushed the Penguins 6-1. Things got started with a shorthanded goal from Martin Fehervary and a clean up goal. Jake Guentzel got the Penguins on the board as the Caps led 2-1 after one.
In the second period the Caps added to their lead with goals from Daniel Sprong and Conor Sheary. In the third a tally from Evgeny Kuznetsov and a power play goal from Tom Wilson capped off the amazing night.
This was my first Hockey Fights Cancer night I ever attended and the night was amazing. It made me think of my mom, who had to fight it a couple years ago and beat it. It made me think of one very close teacher of mine from elementary and high school that died from colon cancer.
We’re in the middle of a pandemic but cancer is still something that is rampant across the world. It’s up to us and the cancer research organizations to fight it.
#1 Opening Night and a full house
The number one moment of 2021 was the moment we’ve all been waiting for since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, returning to arenas with a full house once again. We got that chance on Oct. 13 as the Capitals hosted the New York Rangers. For obvious reasons, the game was promoted as another potential brawl but this was far from the case as the Caps kept their focus on the scoreboard.
The Capitals cruised to a 5-1 win. T.J. Oshie got things started with a power play goal. Justin Schultz doubled the lead in the second period with a power play goal of his own. We got to see the NHL debut of Hendrix Lapierre and the 2020 first round pick had a goal to remember.
It came with Oshie completing a between the legs pass on a 2 on 1 rush. Lapierre finished it while sliding right into the boards but he wasn’t hurt as he experienced the adrenaline that comes from scoring your first NHL goal.
Hot. Is Alex Ovechkin Benefiting from the Pandemic?. light
Then Alex Ovechkin showed the world that he has no intentions of slowing down despite having just turned 36 about a month prior. He had a power play goal and a shorthanded goal for 732 on his career beginning his ascent up the NHL’s scoring ladder as now he’s got Jaromir Jagr, Gordie Howe, and Wayne Gretzky left to chase.