Top 5 best Capitals quotes of all-time
The Washington Capitals have been known for memorable quotes over the years. I won’t give too much away but we all have a favorite one.
These were quotes that would make you want to run through a wall whether you’re a player or a fan. Some of these quotes led the Capitals to a Stanley Cup. Others became a rallying cry. Others simply got them fired up for a game.
No matter what style, or what context, or when they said it, we’ll look at the five best ones that helped define the Caps.
#5 Bruce Boudreau – “Now, I think we’re ready. I’ve looked at everybody’s faces, looked in your eyes, I think we’re ready to play here.”
This was what Bruce Boudreau said right before the Caps took on the Pittsburgh Penguins in their prelude to the Winter Classic. It occurred right before Christmas of that holiday season at Verizon Center before the team’s met on New Years Day at Heinz Field.
Boudreau said this to his team right before they took the ice and it was captured on the HBO cameras in their 24/7 Road to the Winter Classic documentary.
It was honestly an awesome time to be a Caps fan.
#4 “In overtime, no one knows.” – Alex Ovechkin
Here’s the full quote from Alex Ovechkin after the Washington Capitals eliminated the Columbus Blue Jackets:
“This series was very fun to play and very fun to watch. It was lots of hockey. A bit unlucky in the first two overtimes. We got lucky in the third one. In overtime, no one knows.”
The Capitals eliminated the Blue Jackets in six games and that quote came after the Game 6 clincher. What Ovechkin was talking about was how the Caps got a bit unlucky in the first two games of that series.
The Caps lost both games in overtime. And to make it even worse both were on home ice. It created doubt for everyone except those in that locker room.
The third game, I’ll admit, they needed a bit of puck luck. They got it in a big way. There was a clang off the post that was a few inches away from putting the Caps in a 3-0 hole.
Instead Lars Eller got the deflection the Caps needed and we all know what happened after that. But Ovechkin said something that still rings true today, “In overtime, no one knows”. Ask our friend Samantha Pell.
#3 “There was great energy in the building. Fans weren’t apprehensive. We gave them something to cheer about.” – Barry Trotz
This was what Barry Trotz said after Game 6 of the third round series in 2018 against the Tampa Bay Lighting. It was off the heels of a dramatic and dominating 3-0 win in Game 6 which set things up for a 4-0 win in Game 7 to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals.
T.J. Oshie added:
“Not really a sense of desperation because I don’t think we felt desperate out there, but a pretty direct urgency.”
The Caps got a shutout from Braden Holtby as he stopped all 24 shots. The Caps led in shots 34-24 and weren’t afraid to get every shot they could at the net. Oshie scored twice and the Caps also got a goal from Devante Smith Pelly.
But the most dominating part of the Caps win wasn’t from their shooting or even their shutout from Holtby. It was the hit department.
The Caps outhit the Lightning 39 to 19 and won on the face off dot with a 54 percent success rate. The Caps were determined to stave off elimination and the fans weren’t nervous and helped them every step of the way.
Everyone in that building knew the Caps were different.
#2 Alex Ovechkin – “We believe in each other. It doesn’t matter what happened (in the past). We have to stick together. We knew it was there. We just had to battle, and we just had to fight through it. Again, great feeling right now and we’re going forward.”
This was the quote that Alex Ovechkin said after the Caps eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins. Finally.
It came on May 7, 2018 in the aftermath of Game 6 of the 2018 second round series. The Caps got a goal from Alex Chiasson early but got a tying goal from Evgeni Malkin.
But this Caps team was different and they proved that when the game required overtime by not being phased. At 5:27 into the extra session, Evgeny Kuznetsov exorcised all the demons of playoffs past.
It was one breakaway goal that changed the franchise forever. It was everything fans hoped it would be and more.
But in order for the Caps to move forward they had to leave the past behind them. That’s exactly what that team did all the way to the Stanley Cup.
It was poetic justice the Caps got that series win on the road in front of their rival fans. It was a turnover that was pounced on by Alex Ovechkin as he found Kuznetsov ahead of everybody all alone with only goaltender Matt Murray to beat.
#1 “We’re not going to be suck this year.” – Alex Ovechkin
What originally started as a simple quote from training camp became the Washington Capitals rallying cry throughout the entire 2017-18 season and beyond as that was their motto that spring on their way to the Stanley Cup.
It then became printed on a T shirt and quoted by everyone in D.C. during the summer of Ovi after the Caps finally did the thing.
When Ovechkin said that back in September of 2017 many experts thought the Caps championship window had closed. The Caps had also lost Karl Alzner and Marcus Johansson as well as Justin Williams and a few others.
But the Caps refused to throw in the towel. And if it wasn’t the front office that wouldn’t throw in the towel it was certainly Barry Trotz and his players.
Ovechkin repeated that line on stage at the championship parade well, with a few F bombs mixed in there. But he had every right to say it and even trademark the “we’re not going to be suck this year”.
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Perhaps the Caps should use that same motto this upcoming season. After all with four straight first round exits, some haters and hockey analysts think the Caps are going to be suck. It would be so nice to prove them all wrong again.