Top 10 Capitals moments of 2021

Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tom Wilson, Jakub Vrana, Garnet Hathaway, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Tom Wilson, Jakub Vrana, Garnet Hathaway, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

#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.

Jakub Vrana, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Jakub Vrana, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

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.