Let us be honest, this entire Washington Capitals season has been a revenge tour for Alex Ovechkin. Many wrote off the Caps and the Great Eight after barley making the playoffs last season.
What was crazy was they were still written off before the season began. The Caps overhauled their roster and no one knew what to expect from it.
The Ovechkin revenge tour began in ernest when the puck dropped. Or even before that at the Caps 50 Fest when Ovi told a crowd of Caps fans they're ready to go.
Ovechkin finished season number 20 with a season to remember. He had 44 goals and 29 assists for 73 points. He would go on to break the record held by Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history.
In the playoffs he carried that over like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. In Game 1 of the first round against the Montreal Canadiens Ovechkin scored twice. That was the first goal and the game winning overtime goal for his first ever of his career.
He didn't look back as he scored in Game 5 to set the tone. By the final horn, another revenge tour opponent was checked off. It took 15 years but the Caps finally beat the Canadiens and this time held them off in five.
Now the revenge tour shifts to Carolina against the Hurricanes and there is sure to be emotion there. The last time these two teams met was in 2019. It was a series that took seven games.
In the end the Caps dropped Game 7 on home ice. It was a contest that could've gone either way and ended up taking overtime to decide the winner.
We remember that series. The air it took out of the building when Brock McGinn scored. The devastation and silence that followed. Little did everyone know it would take seven years for the Caps to win a playoff series again.
Now seven years later after hoisting the Cup, the Caps are back in the second round. When they played the Hurricanes back then, Caps were still defending the Cup. Now they're a veteran team mixed with youth.
The Capitals vs. Hurricanes rivalry since that series has only taken off which is more escalated with both teams in the same division.