LAS VEGAS —
Across their 43 seasons, the Washington Capitals have dabbled in hapless
hockey and exquisite hockey, boring hockey and effective hockey, but
never had they played winning hockey through four playoff rounds, all
the way to a grueling, glorious end.
It
took a team hardened by those postseason failures but liberated from
high expectations to complete a run as dazzling as it was cathartic,
capping it on Thursday night by dispatching the upstart Vegas Golden
Knights, 4-3, to win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
It
was the Capitals’ fourth consecutive victory in the finals after a
disorienting 6-4 loss in the opener that made little sense in the
context of how they played immediately before and afterward. After twice
shutting out the offensive powerhouse Tampa Bay Lightning to advance to
its first Cup finals since 1998, Washington outscored the Golden
Knights across these last four games by 16-8.
Lars
Eller scored the winning goal with 7 minutes 27 seconds remaining,
jamming in a loose puck that had slid through Marc-Andre Fleury’s pads
and rested at the top of the crease behind him. The Capitals’ bench
erupted, and Eller hopped away as if dancing.
Unlike past Washington teams puffed with
stars that collapsed in the playoffs, this group conveyed a certain
resilience that infused their play, in games and in series. Even on
Thursday, Washington blew two leads in a frenetic second period that
ended with Vegas ahead by 3-2. But Devante Smith-Pelly evened the score
on a diving goal at 9:52 of the third before Eller assured that these
Capitals would become the second team to win the Cup after trailing in
every round, joining the Penguins of 1991.
That
same year, the Redskins embarked on a season that ended with Super Bowl
glory. None of the Washington area’s major professional franchises
(apologies, D.C. United) had won a championship since, and no team since
the Capitals in 1998 had even advanced to the conference finals, let
alone the last round. That’s even more remarkable considering some of
the sporting luminaries who have played there: Bryce Harper, Max
Scherzer, Clinton Portis, John Wall, Michael Jordan.
The hockey team alone in the last two decades featured Adam Oates, Jaromir Jagr and Sergei Fedorov.
But
along came the Russian stars Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, backed by a
robust supporting cast that matched offensive prowess with discipline,
structure and tenacity. Ovechkin, who scored the Capitals’ second goal
Thursday and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, embodied the two-way
commitment demanded by Coach Barry Trotz, blocking shots and delivering
checks. He finished this postseason with 27 points, just behind
Kuznetsov, who had 32, which was the most since his fellow Russian
Evgeni Malkin had 36 for Pittsburgh in 2009.
The team’s
captain and longest-tenured player, Ovechkin, 32, endured more
disappointment than anyone else on the Capitals. He has spent all 13
seasons of his transcendent career with the team, who drafted him first
over all in 2004.
George McPhee — the
general manager who selected Ovechkin and constructed Washington’s
spine, from Nicklas Backstrom to John Carlson to Kuznetsov to Holtby —
also assembled in Vegas the most successful first-year franchise in
major North American sports history. Vegas romped to a Pacific Division
title and burned through the Western Conference bracket, losing only
three times in its first 16 playoff games.
Facing
elimination, the Golden Knights confronted their predicament with
defiance. Opening their pregame festivities, a video implored fans not
to give up — if the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and the Cleveland Cavaliers
in 2016 and the New England Patriots in 2017 could overcome imposing
deficits, then so, they hoped, could Vegas.
In
contrast to these Golden Knights, the expansion Capitals in 1974-75
compiled what is still regarded as the worst season in league history,
an 8-67-5 record worth 21 points. The franchise matured into a perennial
contender, and for more than a decade Washington has been one of the
N.H.L.’s top teams, winning its division eight times in 11 seasons and
making 10 postseason appearances over all in that span.
Each
of those playoff forays had been defined, in one way or another, by
calamitous defeat: to eighth-seeded Montreal in 2010; in seven games to
the Rangers in 2012, 2013 and 2015; in consecutive series to Pittsburgh
in 2016 and 2017, despite finishing with the most points in the league
both seasons. In the Ovechkin era, the Capitals have twice bungled
three-games-to-one leads, and before vanquishing Tampa Bay last month,
they had lost seven of 10 Game 7s.
“We
don’t really dwell on the game before, let alone the things that have
happened in years past,” forward T.J. Oshie said after Game 4. “But
there’s been heartbreak here, we know that. But I think that’s kind of
scarred over and has made us a little stronger for it.”
An
hour before face-off, hundreds of Washington fans that assembled near
the boards started chanting, “Let’s go, Caps!” Clad in red, they soon
filled in sections in the upper and lower bowls, forming a far larger
presence than they had in either of the first two games here, and it
seemed like half of T-Mobile Arena stood and screamed joyously after
Eller scored.
Trotz has discussed the
Capitals’ postseason struggles openly, often comparing his teams to
others that foundered before winning, like the Islanders dynasty of the
early 1980s and the Detroit Red Wings of the mid-1990s.
“All of these experiences,” Trotz said recently, “help you find out how much you can take and how much you can give.”
For
years, the Capitals took and took and gave and gave, and now, with
nothing more to take and nothing left to give, there is but one thing
left for them to do: celebrate.
Because they, after 43 seasons, are finally champions.
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