Washington Capitals: Top 25 goals of all-time

The Washington Capitals have had many memorable goals in their history. Today we’ll look at what I believe are my top 25. Obviously this is my all time list and I may miss a couple that fans will let me know about. That’s why these things are fun.

Anyway let’s have a crack at it. Obviously the historic ones were the easy ones. It was when it got higher where it got tricky.

#25 Troy Brouwer Winter Classic goal

We start the countdown with Troy Brouwer’s 2015 Winter Classic goal. In a back and fourth game between the Capitals and the Chicago Blackhawks the game looked like it was heading for overtime.

Alex Ovechkin got a shot off but lost his stick and threw his hands up but the puck wounded up at Troy Brouwer’s stick and he put it in. It came while the Capitals were on the power play and sent the crowd of over 42,000 at Nationals Park into a frenzy.

This was the first time the Capitals hosted an outdoor game and many consider it one of the best Winter Classics of all time. It was by far the best game I’ve ever gone to.

#24 Alex Ovechkin 767

What makes this Alex Ovechkin goal and milestone special was the player he passed. No it wasn’t Wayne Gretzky. Hopefully that will someday come. But he passed Jaromir Jagr, a guy that either ruined or saved the Caps.

The Caps traded for Jagr with the Pittsburgh Penguins back in the early 2000s. It didn’t work I’ll spare you the details. But when it didn’t work the Caps executed a perfect tank to draft Alex Ovechkin.

On March 15, 2022 against the New York Islanders at Capital One Arena, Ovechkin passed Jagr for third all time in goals scored in NHL history. It was a beauty right off the face off.

“It’s pretty cool. (To) pass all those names, legends, it’s history. It’s going to be forever, and I hope someday somebody is going to break my record. We will see,” Ovechkin told Tom Gulitti of NHL.com.

Could it be Jagr? The 50 year old may not be playing in the NHL but he isn’t quite done with playing hockey in the Czech.

If anybody can pass Ovechkin someday after the great eight hangs it up, I don’t think it’s Jagr though. I think it could be Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews but the key is they have to keep tearing it up in their 30s and we’re still a ways from that.

#22 Alex Ovechkin 800

Nine days before Alex Ovechkin made NHL history he made some other NHL history as well as he not only scored his 800th career goal in Chicago against the Blackhawks but did it in the most Ovi way imaginable: a hat trick.

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The Capitals wold go on to win 7-3 and the whole arena including the home crowd was chanting Ovi’s name. With the Caps already up 4-2, Ovechkin’s historic 800th goal came at 6:34 of the third period.

Ovechkin told El Bashir, “As soon as it happen(ed), kind of relief, kind of happiness and enjoying it.”

Ovechkin added:

“It’s a big number. It’s the best company anyone can imagine since you start playing hockey to be that category — 800. I’m the third person who ever scored that many goals. Without my teammates, without organization, fans, my family, I would never get that number.”

Being just the third player ever to do something in a sport no matter what it is, is incredible. Ovechkin still has a chance to be the first ever to score the most goals.

#21 Nicklas Backstrom Game 2 overtime goal 2010 Round 1

The 2010 first round series between the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens was one to forget… except for Game 2. My generation of young Capitals fans had just been learning the heartbreak of playoff overtime hockey but this was the first time in my Caps fandom I’ve seen an overtime playoff game go the other way.

None of us at home or at the Verizon Center could believe our eyes.

The Caps would prevail in a high scoring 6-5 game. Early in the game they trailed 2-0. Eric Fehr got the Caps on the board. In the second period the Habs went up 4-1 before Nicklas Backstrom pulled the Caps within two.

In the third period Alex Ovechkin and Backstrom tied it. The Habs took the lead right back before a young John Carlson tied it again at 18:39.

Backstrom would complete the hat trick 31 seconds into overtime.

#20 Backstrom to Ovi PPG Game 5 Stanley Cup

Spoiler alert you might see a couple on this list from June 7, 2018. This is one of them. Nobody scored in the first period. At 6:24 Jakub Vrana broke the ice on a breakaway goal. Nate Schmidt would tie it at 9:40

At 10:14 the other magic moment Caps fans dreamed for happened: Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin connecting in a Stanley Cup clinching game. It had to happen. It came on the power play.

It came on a Backstrom feed that was crisp right outside of Ovi’s office and the great eight sniped it in. After the game the dynamic duo hoisted the Cup together, a moment that made me cry.

“It’s a lot heavier than you think,” Backstrom told NHL.com. “It was great when (Alex) gave it to me there. We’ve been dreaming about this since we were kids. It’s just a great feeling.”

#19 Devante Smith Pelly Game 5 goal

After the Backstrom to Ovechkin connection the Vegas Golden Knights put a minor scare on the Caps with a goal from David Perron and a power play tally from Reilly Smith to go up 3-2 going into the third period.

But this was a night of destiny. The Caps weren’t going to lose this game. Not a chance.

The comeback started with playoff hero Devante Smith Pelly who’s story to get to that point was incredible. The previous summer the New Jersey Devils bought out his contract and the Caps signed him for cheap. It turned out to be a  bargain that spring.

DSP’s goal came at 9:52 where he even stretched out to put the puck around Marc Andre Fleury. It was the third straight game he scored a goal. It was also DSP’s seventh that spring.

Stories like the legend of Devante Smith Pelly is what the playoffs are all about. He will always be a hero in DC.

#18 Joel Ward buzzer beater at Rangers 2015

This was an insane game. We were blessed and somewhat cursed with Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers playoff series. Cursed meaning it was hard to stop prime Henrik Lundqvist.

But Game 1 got the Caps off the right foot thanks to some puck luck.

Puck luck? For the Caps?

Yes. I know.

At 18:13 Alex Ovechkin struck on the power play to give the Caps a 1-0 lead. Late in the third at 15:21 the Rangers tied it on a goal from Jesper Fast. It looked like overtime was on the horizon.

That is until Joel Ward was in the right place and the right time to poke the puck in off a feed from Alex Ovechkin behind the net right at the buzzer so we wouldn’t have to worry about overtime for once.

Joel Ward really was him. Hope he’s doing well.

#17 Mike Green Game 2 2013 vs. Rangers

There is nothing more stressful than a scoreless hockey game unless it’s in the playoffs and that said playoff game is in overtime still scoreless. That’s exactly what happened on May 4, 2013 as Mike Green’s overtime goal didn’t come until the eight minute mark of the extra session.

It put the Capitals up 2-0 in the series. This was a series where the home team won every game until Game 7 when the Caps got spanked sadly.

You win some against the Rangers and you lose some.

“I just seen he (Henrik Lundqvist) looked on the one side of the guy, and shot the other side. Just got lucky,” Green told Ted Starkey, who was with SB Nation at the time.

Green added:

“(Mike Ribeiro) does such a great job of drawing guys to him and obviously they are on (Alex Ovechkin), so I just happened to be open and my goal was to get it by the first guy and try and hit the net.”

#16 Kuzy vs Isles 2015 Game 7

2015 was technically still Evgeny Kuznetsov’s rookie year as he didn’t make his NHL debut until March 2014. But he started to become a fan favorite and had his first superstar moment here. It unlocked the door to what kind of a superstar the Russian center can become teaming up with Alex Ovechkin.

Joel Ward put the Caps up 1-0 at 18:35 in the second period. In the third the New York Islanders tied it at 3:13 with a goal from Frans Nielsen.

The series was in the middle of Game 7 at this point and it was an entertaining and back and fourth one between two old time rivals. Nerves in the building made it feel like overtime was coming until Kuznetsov saved the night.

What made this goal impressive wasn’t just because it was sweet payback against Jaroslav Halak. It was also because of the way Kuznetsov took his time before firing that shot.

#15 Joel Ward at Bruins 2012 Game 7

Nothing beats an upset in the playoffs especially if it’s against the defending Stanley Cup champions and that was the case in 2012 for the Washington Capitals when they took on the Boston Bruins in an intense Game 7 in Boston.

Matt Hendricks put the Caps up 1-0 in the first. Tyler Seguin tied it for the Bruins in the second period. Ward scored his golden goal at 2:57 off a rebound off a shot from Mike Knuble.

Capitals coach at the time Dale Hunter told Corey Masisak, then of NHL.com:

“When it comes playoff time you never know who is going to score goals and the guys that are good guys, character guys – I think [Mike Knuble] blocked a shot and took off and [Ward] went with him and they got rewarded for it. They had a good game going the whole game. I think we were playing very well. … To come in here and to beat Boston, Stanley Cup champions, great team over there, we know what they’re all about, their character over there. And it took everything we had. We have great character guys, too. That’s why it came down to seven games, one goal. That’s unheard of.”

Ward described the goal:

“I went for a change and [Knuble] made a big block there and I assumed we had a little bit of a break up ice so try and take a chance. I knew he was going to take it to the rack and I just tried to follow it up as best I could. You know, I just saw the puck laying there and I just took a whack at it and it went in.”

#14 Alex Ovechkin 500th goal

This was the moment where I started to believe that Alex Ovechkin catching Wayne Gretzky could be a legitimate possibility. I was in the stands for this game. I was home from college on Christmas break and I would go back to school later in the week.

I remember this game being at the same time as a Redskins playoff home game and even so I preferred to be at the hockey game over the football game.

The date was Jan. 10, 2016 and the Capitals hosted the Ottawa Senators. They absolutely crushed them that night winning 7-1. Justin Williams and T.J. Oshie got the scoring started. Zach Sill and Dmitry Orlov continued it into the second period before Ovechkin fired it in on the power play at 16:19 for his 500th.

His mom and dad were in the stands in the middle of the screaming crowd. His dad had his phone out recording the moment looking like it was the proud father moment of his life. His mom was crying, like all moms would if their son was the best hockey player in the world.

Tom Wilson added a goal in the third period before Ovechkin capped off the historical night with goal 501.

#13 Bondra five goal game

On Feb. 5, 1994, Peter Bondra that not even Alex Ovechkin has done yet. He lit the lamp five times in the Capital Centre against the Tampa Bay Lightning with ease. His first goal was a turnaround snipe on the face off circle.

The second goal was way too easy as Bondra not only beat the goaltender but got him out of the trapezoid. Easy shot that even I could make in a beer league game. I just need to learn how to ice skate.

Then it was another one from a sharp angle to complete a hat trick. This is what the kids who weren’t alive to see Bondra play would call tuff. It’s the kind of goal I can make in NHL on Xbox. He wasn’t done.

Bondra had four goals in the first period with a breakaway that made even a Pittsburgh Penguins fan in the video applaud. The fifth goal 30 seconds into the second period was a slam dunk.

I had to include Bondra in this list so I figured why not put his best game on here.

#12 Joe Juneau 1998 Eastern Conference clincher

Joe Juneau became the first big hero in Capitals history to really have the ultimate postseason success until 2018 as his goal in Game 6 against the Buffalo Sabres to beat Dominik Hasek to send the Caps to their first ever Stanley Cup Final remains a brief moment of bliss in what is usually annual springs of disappointment.

What’s nice about this goal is that Brian Bellows cut to the net and nearly beat Hasek. After Hasek thought he had it the loose puck was right by Juneau to bang it in.

“I’ll get back to you,” Juneau said to the reporter on the ice as he was caught up in the moment.

Juneau spoke to WashingtonCaps.com on that moment:

The whole playoff run was very, very special. You know we ended up, Washington ended up, building an unbelievable team. In the 13 years of my NHL career, that team in Washington was probably the most talented team that I was ever on. It was a matter of getting all these talented players to gel and play together. It was amazing really. You’d look around the locker room and go down the roster from line one to line number five and all the eight or nine defensemen and the goaltending starting with [Olie] Kolzig, it was really an amazing group of guys, very talented. What happened obviously going from the very defensive-minded coaching of Jim Schoenfeld to the coaching of Ron Wilson that kind of brought, not maybe, but obviously brought a different offensive dimension to playing the game. It was very good for the players that we had in place. It didn’t take much from the defensive part of our game. By going that far and reaching the Stanley Cup finals you obviously have to play very good hockey both ways, but the offensive game that Ron Wilson brought obviously was very positive for that group of guys. Like I said, the whole experience that year was very, very positive and scoring a couple big overtime goals, including the one in overtime that allowed us as a team to move on into the finals, was really, I look at it today as doing my part to contribute to the team’s success. You score a goal and there are a lot of other people who made that goal happen. All my life I was a playmaker, setting up goals for others, that was the way that I played. I was way more of a playmaker than a finisher and it’s funny that one of the biggest goals in Caps’ history was one I got and not set up. When I talk about that goal I always talk about the work that Brian Bellows did. Adam Oates and I had exchanged the puck in the neutral zone and coming in the zone, driving the net. It was Brian Bellows that did everything, crashing the net. I just followed for rebounds like we’ve been taught since we were very, very young and the puck was there. I give a lot of credit to Brian Bellows for that goal.

#11 Jason Chimera comeback against Rangers 2011

Everyone remembers where they were for certain games or moments in sports. While the Capitals and New York Rangers were battling it out in Game 4 on 4/20/11 at Madison Square Garden I was across the Hudson River visiting family in New Jersey. I was only able to watch on TV but did attend Game 2 of that series in D.C. It was spring break of my senior year of high school.

At that time I was at the top and bottom of the sports world experiencing the joy and triumph of victory and the pain of defeat. The joy and triumph? Back to back state basketball titles. We all know what the defeat was. It was that first round exit to the Montreal Canadiens the year before.

This was a game that it looked like the Rangers would dominate to the delight of their fans who chanted “Can you hear us?” at Bruce Boudreau and the Caps after their bench boss said Verizon Center was louder (it is).

The Rangers would go up 3-0 in the second period heading into the third. When they scored two straight goals seven seconds apart I was at my grandma’s house and I don’t think she ever heard me cuss so much.

In the third period the Caps answered with three unanswered goals. It was started by Alexander Semin while Marcus Johansson scored twice. The game would require overtime and then double overtime.

The beauty of this goal was Jason Chimera following the shot after Henrik Lundqvist was unable to keep it between his pads. It put the Caps up three games to one and unlike the previous year, the Caps slammed the series shut in Game 5. They would then get swept by the Tampa Bay Lighting.

#10 Jakub Vrana Game 5 goal vs. Penguins

Caps vs. Pittsburgh Penguins games always went bad for the red, white, and blue. This was a pivotal Game 5 at Capital One Arena on Cinco De Mayo 2018. The Caps faced adversity with a Tom Wilson suspension even though the hit was legal.

After dropping Game 4 whoever was going to win that night’s game was more than likely going to close out the series in Game 6 in Pittsburgh. After a lackluster second period the Caps flipped the playoff script for perhaps the first time ever.

After Evgeny Kuznetsov got the rally started to tie the game, Jakub Vrana brought the house down thanks to a team first pass by Alex Ovechkin. The Caps never looked back as Oshie slammed it with two empty net goals.

The best part of Ovechkin’s pass is that everyone including the goalie thought the great eight would shoot as he went toward the net. Instead he went past the net and passed the puck backwards to Vrana.

Vrana is one of those guys who should’ve been with the Caps longer and his time didn’t have to end the way it did. But nobody will take this moment away from him or us.

#9 Sergei Fedorov Game 7 vs. New York Rangers

The Washington Capitals were the new kids on the block, at least this generation, when it came to playoff hockey. They had yet to taste a true playoff win. This was the first time Alex Ovechkin and Co. got that feeling. And it came from the veteran in the room, Sergei Fedorov.

It came with 4:59 left and helped the Capitals complete a series comeback where they were starting a three games to one series deficit. They even dropped the first two games on home ice including a 1-0 shutout in Game 2.

The Caps won Game 3 to save the series but dropped Game 4. They would go on to win Games 5 and 6 to set up the decisive Game 7. It marked the renewal of a rivalry of sorts between the Capitals and Rangers.

They would go on to meet in the playoffs several more times with both teams having their fair share of triumph. But this one in 2009 goes to the Caps and they deserved it. Man that series was fun.

#8 Alex Ovechkin first goal

You can’t get to number eight and have it not be about Alex Ovechkin am I right? So number eight in our top 25 goals list is none other than the very first of (so far at the time this publishing) 822.

After a year of no hockey and having to wait a bit before the 2004 number one pick donned a Capitals uniform on the ice, Oct. 5, 2005 came and the NHL was back. The Capitals hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets and the great eight made a memorable first impression to us and the league.

Ovechkin had two goals including a rocket from downtown to get his goal scoring off to a roaring start. He also had a hit and later a hit that I think had to stop the game and have the crew get new glass.

Nobody knew at the time how good Alex Ovechkin was going to be. We knew he’d be good. But nobody thought he was going to be chasing Wayne Gretzky at this point in his career or even still be playing, let alone for the Caps.

One thing was for sure, those who left MCI Center that night were in awe and knew it was just the beginning of greatness before our very eyes.

#7 Ovi’s first playoff goal

On April 11, 2008 the Capitals hosted the Philadelphia Flyers in the first playoff game of the Alex Ovechkin era and like the previous slide, the great eight was ready to put on a show for the league and the paying customers that night.

The Caps would win this game 5-4. Ovechkin was all over the place hitting guys and creating offense. In the comeback charge he assisted on Mike Green’s game tying power play goal. Then Ovi took over and showed the league why he’s HIM (which is a slang word that kids use now that didn’t exist back then).

Ovechkin created this play all by himself. He stripped the puck like an NFL linebacker does on a running back. He glided to the side and ripped it through.

I remember seeing this and the whole scene. I had just started to learn what winning hockey looks like and it was exciting. I hadn’t attended a live hockey game yet but I knew I had to get my dad to take me to a game that next season, which he did.

That sea of red would carry over for the next decade plus. It still is there to this day. But will it be there after Ovechkin retires? Probably not but maybe tickets will be cheaper.

#6 Lars Eller goal at Columbus Blue Jackets first round Game 3

This goal is extremely important. This goal not only saved the Caps season but jump started the run towards greatness. He may have signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins recently, but we’ll always thank Lars Eller for this one.

The Caps entered this game down two games to none to the Columbus Blue Jackets, having dropped both games on home ice. That’s bad enough.

To make things worse, the game would not only require one but two overtimes. Ugh.

This was the most ugly goal on this list but it may have been the most important one ever. One future slide or any of the earlier goals mentioned might not have been possible without this one.

It trickled around in front of the net and Eller poked it in past Sergei Bobrovsky. The Caps didn’t look back the rest of that round. It was the textbook definition of a momentum and series changing goal.

#5 Alex Ovechkin goal vs. Montreal Canadiens

On Feb. 18, 2009 against the Montreal Canadiens, the Washington Capitals would prevail 4-3 in the shootout. But nobody remembers how that entire game went. Everyone remembers Alex Ovechkin’s goal in the first period.

The execution of this is out of this world. Just a casual dump and the puck bounces along the boards but it couldn’t have bounced better for Ovechkin.

Once the puck was on the stick and he turned on the jets, fans got out of their seats and the Habs knew they were in big trouble.

Ovechkin cut to the inside, protecting the puck from a defender. Got knocked down but still executed to get the shot off into the net. Just “absolute brilliance” in the words of play by play broadcaster Joe Beninati.

#4 Dale Hunter in overtime

The Caps haven’t really had playoff success in the 1980s but this was their big moment. In overtime of Game 7 between the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers, Dale Hunter raced down with a breakaway and scored nearly blowing the roof off the old Capital Centre.

Those Caps fans saw heartbreak the year prior in a four overtime gut puncher to the New York Islanders in what was known as the Easter Epic.

This time the fans got to go home and sit in that Landover, Maryland traffic happy. Hunter will always be a Capitals legend for this goal.

When Hunter became the interim head coach in 2011 after the firing of Bruce Boudreau, he was behind the bench in the first Caps overtime Game 7 win since that night when it was Joel Ward’s heroics in Boston.

#3 Evgeny Kuznetsov goal Game 6 to beat Pittsburgh Penguins

This one is another breakaway goal for the ages. It was in overtime in Game 6. After the Caps won an emotional Game 5 they had the chance of a lifetime to end the Penguins back to back Cup defense and spoil any chance of them having a three peat.

This goal also unlocked a door to more potential and even better greatness a month later.

Sidney Crosby turned the puck over. Alex Ovechkin got it. He found a wide open Evgeny Kuznetsov and the rest is history.

Kuzy was a beast that spring and sadly this might have been the last biggest Caps goal we see from the center who at the time of this writing made a request to be traded, per a report from Mike Vogel.

But nothing is better than beating the Penguins and Kuznetsov put himself in rare and elite company as it was only the second time ever the Caps defeated their rivals in the postseason and first time doing it with Alex Ovechkin.

#2 Lars Eller Stanley Cup clincher

Number two on this list and number one in our heart is when Lars Eller found a loose puck behind Marc Andre Fleury to end the wonder ride we had by scoring the goal that would eventually win the Caps the Cup.

June 7, 2018. A day we’ll remember forever.

This was a game I could relive again and again. Not just because the Caps won the Stanley Cup but the way that they won it. They overcame a one goal deficit entering the third period by scoring two big goals. They even survived the clock not working late in the game.

It’s going to be weird seeing Eller in a Penguins uniform this upcoming season but we’ll always thank him for that first round goal and the goal in the Stanley Cup clincher.

#1 The Goal by Alex Ovechkin

Number one is the greatest goal not only scored in Washington Capitals history but perhaps NHL history. Alex Ovechkin was only a rookie. In fact he was only 20 years old. But by January 2006 he had a goal that was simply sensational.

All the kid did was score goals. Who cared that year whether the Caps won or lost? They were still a ways from making the playoffs. But the future was bright.

The way he scored this was just dirty in the sickest way possible. He goes down, spins while falling while maintaining control of the puck to put it in.

What made this goal even better was who was in the building that day. Wayne Gretzky was the coach of the Coyotes at the time and was behind the bench when the play happened.

People in the arena could not believe their eyes. Once the video board showed the replay there were gasps. A young Auston Matthews was at the game in awe and he was just a kid literally. Gretzky couldn’t help but keep looking up at the video replay.

Those are my top 25 goals all time. Which goal was your favorite? Which ones did I miss?