Top 3 must-see Capitals hockey games in 2022
The Washington Capitals are just less than two months away from the regular season. There’s several great games to watch this year. Today we’ll take a look at the top 3 games to watch.
These games include epic rivalries, playoff rematches and a game outside against an opponent who thinks the Caps are their biggest rivals.
#3 Nov. 9 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
On Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins along with Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby will renew their rivalry. And honestly let me put my fandom aside and say something completely unbiased:
Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby are gifted athletes. They both brought joy to their respective cities and when they both retire that rivalry will get boring very quickly. So enjoy this matchup while it lasts.
The Penguins made a couple of moves this offseason to try and improve their team. Like the Caps, their championship window is closing too so they would like nothing more than to get their guys one more Cup even though it seems like they already won enough.
The Penguins re-signed Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. It was important they did those two moves especially getting a deal done with Malkin. They also re-signed Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell as well as Kasperi Kapanen and trading for Jeff Petry and John Marino.
#2 Feb. 16 vs. Florida Panthers
On Thursday Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. the Florida Panthers come to town for the first time since eliminating the Caps in Game 6 on Friday the 13th.
The Panthers won the Presidents Trophy as the league’s top team in the regular season. After they eliminated the Caps they got swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
I wouldn’t necessarily say the Caps choked in that series. I think they just missed every opportunity they could to put a stranglehold on the Panthers. That included a missed empty netter in Game 4, a blown 3-0 lead in Game 5 and a costly turnover in overtime of Game 6 that sealed their doom.
The Panthers have a new coach in Paul Maurice. The biggest thing they did this offseason was trading Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a lottery protected 2025 first round pick to the Calgary Flames for Matthew Tkachuk and a conditional fourth rounder.
After that they signed Tkachuk to an eight year contract extension worth $76 million. But Huberdeau was a big loss. He had a career high 115 points last season with 30 goals and 85 assists. Tkachuk ain’t too shabby though as he had a career high 104 points with 42 goals and 62 assists.
That game leads into the next one we’re going to talk about.
#1 Stadium Series at Carolina Hurricanes
The must see game of the year takes place in front of a national TV audience in the great outdoors. The Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes will take their “rivalry” outside. After they ended our Cup reign in 2019 it’s time for the Caps to come into their territory and take a win in front of their fans.
And there will be plenty of Caps fans traveling deep for that one. Heck, I might even go.
The Hurricanes lost a lot of players. That includes Vincent Trocheck, Tony DeAngelo, Ian Cole, Max Domi, Brendan Smith, Nino Niederreiter and many more.
The Hurricanes did add a lot though. They traded for Brent Burns and Lane Pederson coming from the San Jose Sharks. They also acquired Max Pacioretty, Ryan Dzingel and many others.
This will be the Hurricanes first time playing outside and hosting a NHL event of this magnitude. For the Caps it’ll be their fourth outdoor game and second Stadium Series game after hosting it at the Naval Academy in 2018.
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The Caps also appeared in the 2011 Winter Classic at Heinz Field where they took down the true rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins. They also defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015 at Nationals Park.