#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.