The Washington Capitals defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in Game Five of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final and have won the series. They did it. They really did it.
The Capitals out-shot the Golden Knights 33 to 31, but were out-attempted at five-on-five 44 to 42.
- The Washington Capitals have won the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history. It has been 26 years (1992 Redskins) since the last major-four professional sports championship resided in DC, until now. The Caps also won their first title 40 years to the date that the Wizards/Bullets franchise won their first NBA title.
- This is the first time that the Capitals have finished a playoff series in 5 games or under since 2011 against the Rangers in the first round. Who knew the Stanley Cup Final would be so easy?
- Capitals captain, Alex Ovechkin has joined an incredibly exclusive club with his 2018 Conn Smythe Trophy win. Ovi is only the fourth player in history to own at least three Hart Memorial Trophies and at least one Conn Smythe Trophy. The other three players are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Bobby Orr. Alex Ovechkin is an all time great.
- Ovechkin’s 15 postseason goals broke the franchise record for most goals in a single playoffs, once held by John Druce (14).
- This season was the first since 1980-81 that the regular season and playoff goal leader was the same player. Ovi now obviously owns that distinction for 2017-2018. The others to do it were Mike Bossy (1980-81), Guy Lafleur (1977-78), Phil Esposito (1971-72 and 1969-70), Jean Beliveau (1955-56), Charlie Conacher (1931-32), and Nels Stewart (1925-26).
- Ovechkin is also the very first Russian-born captain to lead his team to a Stanley Cup victory. Please shove that in the face of anyone you know with a jingoistic take about Ovi from the past.
- Nicklas Backstrom was the first person that Ovechkin passed the Cup to and in true Backstrom form, quietly had an above point per game postseason, tallying 23 points in 20 games. His saucer pass in this game on the power play to Ovechkin belongs in the Smithsonian. That was art and the ice was Backy’s canvas.
- Jay Beagle is the first player in history to win a Kelly Cup (ECHL), Calder Cup (AHL), and now a Stanley Cup. That just shows you how hard Beags has worked to get to this point in his career.
- Devante Smith-Pelly tied the game with his seventh goal of the postseason, which tied his total from the entire regular season. DSP now owns three or four of the most clutch goals in the history of this franchise. Take. A. Bow.
- More firsts. Nathan Walker is the first Australian to win the Stanley Cup and Lars Eller is the first Dane to do so. Consider this the start of the petition to get Walker’s name on the Cup even though he doesn’t qualify through the normal requirements (either 41 regular season games with the team or one game played in the Stanley Cup Final).
- Brian MacLellan has become the 7th man to win the Stanley Cup as both a general manager and a player (1989 Calgary Flames). His acquisition of Michal Kempny was the move of the year. No question about that. Speaking of Kempny and MacLellan, you two need to get together and hammer out some contract details. Kempny has to return.
- I would be remiss to not acknowledge the leading point scorer of the playoffs with 32, Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuzy will never talk about himself, but I think the guy has exploded into at least the top five NHL center list with this postseason. What an absolutely unreal run.
- The one point I will make about the actual play from the game is that I have absolutely no clue what Gerard Gallant was thinking taking away Nate Schmidt from his assignment against the Caps top line. It didn’t really have too much of an effect on the scoresheet, but Brayden McNabb and Deryk Engelland allowed Ovechkin and company to create chances at a much higher rate than when Schmidt was paired with McNabb against them.
- It is officially 118 days until hockey. Who’s excited?
- Lastly, I just want to thank both Peter and Ian for giving me this “numbers for the morning after” platform the entire season. They put up with a lot of my interesting takes, free-flowing grammar, and continued use of the phrase “hundo” in contexts where it makes no sense. I would also like to thank you all for reading all my drivel and sometimes ranty bullet points. I’ve really loved doing these posts this season, because win or lose I feel like it’s a very unique way to make my voice standout in the Caps community, no matter how few people actually read these. Anyway, this is obviously the last one for quite some time and these posts may get a little bit of a rebrand for next season, but I’m hundo going to keep doing them. CFTC signing out the 2017-18 numbers for the morning after. Peace.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com, Hockeystats.ca, NaturalStatTrick.com, Capitals PR, and Corsica.hockey.
Full RMNB Coverage of Game Five
Headline photo: Bruce Bennett
