The Washington Capitals play the Vegas Golden Knights Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena, marking the first time the team has returned to Las Vegas since winning the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. “It’s where a lot of us achieved our dreams for the first time,” John Carlson said to the Washington Post.
The memories of that game also mean a lot to the fans who were present. Ellen Arantes who flew to T-Mobile Arena from Washington DC for Game Five. “Once I realized they could actually win the Stanley Cup and I could witness it, I rushed to buy my tickets,” Ellen said. “It totally broke me but it was totally worth it.”
Ellen was standing by the tunnel to the locker room and got a photo of Alex Ovechkin as he walked off the ice with the Stanley Cup.
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Photo: Ellen Arantes
Ellen’s picture captures Ovechkin triumphantly lifting the championship trophy he’d been chasing for 13 seasons. Behind Ovechkin is a large throng of media and several Capitals players with their families. A pregnant Nastya Ovechkina can be seen trying to navigate through the crowd to follow her husband.
From Ellen:
After the Golden Knights lost, the arena emptied out and a lot of glass/front seats were open. So I ran down from the upper deck to be as close as possible. I just so happened to be around the same time that everyone had finished skating around the rink with the Stanley Cup and it was back to Ovi, who was in charge of carrying the Cup off the ice. So as he’s walking out we all start clapping and cheering and he lifts the Cup again, which is when I took the picture.
It was incredible, especially because there weren’t many of us left. So we truly experienced something that very few had the opportunity to. And it was so close! People who stretched their arms definitely touched the Cup.
[Ellen managed to find a photo from the far end of the rink that captured her taking the photo of Ovechkin.]
Photos: @Capitals
Once there, the energy inside T-Mobile Arena was absolutely insane and I for sure didn’t expect to see as many Caps fans there as there was. It was a legit a sea of red. When we got the winning goal, I didn’t register it at first. I was in shock like holy sh*t we won. Ovi jumps out into the rink, the crowd went wild, everyone drops their gloves, there are tears and screams of joy and just the overwhelming feeling of being proud. It’s hard to explain.
No need to explain. We totally get what you mean.
Photo: @Capitals
