The Washington Capitals have only won one Stanley Cup so far which came in 2018. In the four years since they haven’t won a playoff series but the team hopes to change that this year.
Looking back to that offseason prior and this one, I see a bunch of similarities. I don’t see the Caps entering this season with lofty expectations. The Metropolitan Division is too stacked and improved.
But with the Caps being under the radar, they can use it to their advantage. Just like that 2017-18 team did.
While the bench boss isn’t there, I do trust Peter Laviolette more than I trusted Todd Reirden. Speaking of Reirden, interesting stuff going on in Pittsburgh as the Penguins named him associate coach. Does this mean Mike Sullivan could be on his way out?
Back to the Caps though and the awesomeness of that run. What made it even sweeter was the adversity they had to overcome throughout the way. They were struggling around Thanksgiving and then coach Barry Trotz was on the hot seat.
Laviolette enters the final year of his contract. Trotz was in the final year of his.
The team turned it around and began to turn a corner but there was still some goaltending drama as Braden Holtby wasn’t his usual self. Philipp Grubauer got hot and he got the net to start the playoffs.
Holtby got the net back after the Caps dug themselves into a hole in Game 2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Thanks to Holtby stepping up and a double overtime goal by Lars Eller in Game 3, the Caps dominated the rest of that series.
Then they were tasked with a chance to get revenge on a Penguins team that eliminated them in the second round two years in a row. The Caps had more adversity as a controversial hit by Tom Wilson suspended him for the remainder of that series.
No Wilson no problem though. The Caps had heart and simply showed they wanted it more in Games 5 and 6. They once again did that in the third round when they were down three games to two entering Game 6.
What we saw was a dominating performance by Holtby and they followed that up with another shutout in Game 7.
Then the Caps took down the Vegas Golden Knights in five games. It was four straight wins after dropping Game 1. When the series shifted to D.C. it was so loud and the Caps rode that momentum the rest of the way to the Cup.