There was not much to like about the Capitals’ 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils Wednesday. The L marked the third time out of the last five games Washington’s given up five or more goals. Max Pacioretty’s much-anticipated Capitals’ debut was panned by the player himself.
But if you looked closely during a stoppage in play in the second period, there was a memorable, fun moment between two former teammates.
Let me set the scene. With 2:50 remaining in the period, the Capital One Arena ice crew was called out onto the ice due to a rut in the right side of the side boards. As the two teams had previously forechecked there, a chunk of ice dislodged, necessitating the break in play.
For several minutes, TNT commentators stalled as work was done to fix the problem. Meanwhile, Alex Ovechkin observed the work. Once the ice was fixed to everyone’s satisfaction, Ovechkin helped clean the playing surface of debris, appearing to find the problematic chunk of ice that had been dislodged and giving it to a friend.
Ovechkin skated over to the Devils’ bench and plopped the ice into Vitek Vanecek’s catching glove.
#ALLCAPS Ovechkin hands old buddy Vanecek a piece of ice pic.twitter.com/qpikzQJZAZ
— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) January 4, 2024
Vanecek, of course, played parts of two seasons in Washington and six with its AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, before being dealt to the New Jersey Devils during the 2022 offseason.
Ovechkin once gave Vanecek a “gift” during his time with the Capitals, too.
“I remember this one time he told me to get in the crease so he could practice his one-timers,” Vanecek said in 2019. “I said, ‘Yeah, awesome.’ I went there, he shot three pucks at me, the fourth one hit my head and I couldn’t chew for the rest of the day. My jaw was done.
“He’s a legend and I’m always impressed,” Vanecek added.
In his first season with the Devils, Vanecek went 33-11-4 and posted a 2.45 goals against average and .911 save percentage. But this year has not gone as well. The Czech has struggled mightily, seeing his goals against average (3.35) and save percentage (.883) fall drastically. Per Money Puck, Vanecek has the second-worst goals save above expected mark in the NHL of -12.1, sitting only behind his former battery mate in Washington, Ilya Samsonov (-13.3).
Screenshot courtesy of TNT
