GIF by welshhockeyfan

Braden Holtby and Alzner celebrate a shootout victory. (Photo credit: Jonathan Kozub)

When Mathieu Perreault was traded to the Anaheim Ducks, the Caps lost more than a talented forward. Perreault was the terrier puppy of the Washington Capitals: small, frantic, usually bouncing with joy. His post-game celebrations became A Thing. But Perreault wasn’t the one who came up with the idea. It was his buddy Karl Alzner, who was inspired by YouTube videos of Seton Hall basketball player Peter Dill. Though they both made up elaborate rituals, it was Perreault who got all the attention. So, after a while, Karl stopped trying.

“I was like ‘Man, that’d be awesome if we did that!’” the mustachioed defenseman told me Wednesday. “I said, ‘Perry, you gotta watch this! It’d be awesome if we did this after a win’” Next game, it went to a shootout. He did it, I did it, and his got a ton of attention.”

This year, though, Perreault is gone and the Capitals have won a spade of games in the shootout. Therefore, it’s been up Alzner to carry the torch. His repertoire is more advanced than Perreault’s, with Alzner featuring distinct celebrations this year: Bow and Arrow, Thor’s Hammer, and the Hulk Hogan.

Nevertheless, Alzner says he wants to keep his celebrations low key — which seems paradoxical. Afraid of it becoming too commonplace, the 25-year-old said he didn’t plan on doing something crazy if the Caps won last week’s shootout in Phoenix.

“No!” Alzner exclaimed when I asked him if he liked all the fan attention it’s gotten — in part thanks to incessant GIFing. “I wanted it to die down. I don’t want it to be a big thing! It’s more just for the guys, just do it for fun. If we can get everybody doing something I think it’d be pretty funny.”

Alzner seems to have succeeded in keeping his choreographed jubilation discreet, at least among his teammates. At Kettler Capitals Iceplex Wednesday, I tried to ask a couple guys about the celebrations. No one seemed to know what I was talking about.

“No! No! I’ve never even seen it so I’m the wrong guy to ask,” forward Joel Ward said, raising an eyebrow. Marcus Johansson, too, was confused.

Like us, Alzner still misses the old #PerryCelly days — even if he’s now co-opted Perreault’s party piece.

“I hope that he’s still doing it,” Alzner said. “That’d be nice if he kept it going to another team. Someone should [GIF] that.”