The Washington Capitals opened up the fine year of 2003 with an absolute blowout of the Florida Panthers at the MCI Center in DC. The Caps, led by a massive night from Jaromir Jagr, dispatched the Cats with a 12-2 final score.
The Caps out-shot the Panthers 40 to 26.
- I thought with the unfortunate news around the sporting world and just world in general that we shouldn’t just halt the morning numbers posts because no games are being played. So, I’m gonna pick out some interesting games from Caps history and throw you some cool stats from them. First fun fact, my little brother at the age of five and my dad were in attendance for this game.
- Really getting with the 2003 theme of things, lets take a look at plus-minus. Believe it or not, three Caps players in this one actually ended up as minus-players in a 10 goal victory. Those three players were Jason Doig at minus-1 (who was also one of the eight Caps goal scorers), Mike Grier at minus-2, and Alex Henry at minus-1.
- Oh you wanted more plus-minus stuff? Leading the way in the game for Florida at a very solid minus-6 was future Caps defenseman, Ivan Majesky. The Caps saw that performance and thought Majesky would be perfect to play 57 games on the rookie Alex Ovechkin led 2005-06 team.
- Jaromir Jagr‘s seven points in this game for the Caps tied a franchise record for most points in a game by a single player, set by Dino Ciccarelli in 1989. That record remains at seven till this day.
- The 12 goals scored by eight different Caps skaters is the most goals in a single game in franchise history, tying a record set by the 1989-90 Capitals against the Quebec Nordiques. Believe it or not, that is not the same game that Ciccarelli had seven points in, in 1989.
- The two teams combined for 102 penalty minutes, led by Brad Ference with 17 for Florida and Steve Konowalchuk with 15 for Washington.
- The two Florida goaltenders burned for the twelve goals against were Jani Hurme (eight goals on 26 shots) and…Roberto Luongo (four goals on 14 shots).
- Jay Bouwmeester, who was recently sidelined after a midgame cardiac incident with the St. Louis Blues, is the last “active” NHL holdover from both rosters in this game.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com.
