When you look at the success of the 2023-24 Washington Capitals, the fingerprints of the 2023 Calder Cup championship Hershey Bears team are all over it.
Three of the Bears’ top four centers last season — Connor McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre, and Michael Sgarbossa — finished the year in Washington as longtime stars Nicklas Backstrom (injury) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (traded to Carolina) departed from the team. Aliaksei Protas and Beck Malenstyn spent the whole season in DC and finished seventh and fourteenth in scoring, respectively. Joe Snively suited up in three different games.
Hunter Shepard, the AHL’s 2023 Playoff MVP, won his NHL debut in October and went 2-1-1 during his four appearances in goal.
On defense, Vincent Iorio and Lucas Johansen suited up in 6 games each. But the contribution that may have pushed the Capitals over the top and into an unlikely Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance was Bears captain Dylan McIlrath.
With Dylan McIlrath's first period assist, players from Hershey’s 2023 championship team have now combined for 114 (42g, 72a) of Washington’s 584 total points (215g, 369a) this season (19.5%).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 16, 2024
Called up due to Nick Jensen’s scary injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 32-year-old McIlrath suited up in the Capitals’ final two games of the season — a must-win back-to-back set against the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.
McIlrath played physical, doling out eight hits. He also played safe, good defense. Skating primarily with young defenseman Alex Alexeyev, the third pairing did not surrender an opposition goal. The Capitals were mildly out-attempted 19-15, out-chanced 5-3, and saw fewer high-danger chances (2-1) in their 16:16 of five-on-five ice time together, per Natural Stat Trick. But McIlrath ultimately helped author the Capitals’ only five-on-five goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 82.
With 1:52 remaining in the first period, McIlrath won a puck battle along the side boards by a split second. Instead of keeping the puck along the perimeter, McIlrath sent a shot on net that struck Alex Ovechkin’s body and deflected past Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson into the net.
“Obviously it was a pretty crazy shot,” Ovechkin said, laughing, during an intermission interview with Monumental Sports Network. “Yeah. We’ll take it and move on.”
The tally, Ovechkin’s 853rd goal of his career, gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead.
“I was joking with all the people who texted me: ‘I think that puck would have been three rows up if Ovi didn’t touch it,'” McIlrath told RMNB on Friday. “So yeah, I just saw him driving the net; I tried to get it there. Obviously, he’s the greatest goal-scorer and it finds a way to hit him. Huge goal for our team.”
Huge might be an understatement. Without the goal, the Flyers would likely have won in regulation and eliminated the Capitals from playoff contention. Instead, Washington plays on due to the regulation wins tiebreaker over the Detroit Red Wings — the team they tied for the second wild card. The 2023-24 Capitals have the worst goal differential of any salary cap era team (minus-37) to make the postseason.
The primary assist was only McIlrath’s second of his eight-season NHL career and his first since April 9, 2016 against the Detroit Red Wings as a member of the New York Rangers. The span between primary apples was eight years and seven days. During that gulf in time, McIlrath won two Calder Cups on two different teams (Grand Rapids Griffins and Hershey) in the AHL, coached by Todd Nelson in both years.
“If you told me this is how it would have played out even as far back as two weeks ago, I would have been very surprised,” McIlrath said of joining the Capitals for the stretch run. “I’m trying to soak it all in. Obviously, getting thrown right into the fire in those big elimination games for us and then to be potentially playing in Game One of the playoffs, it’s pretty surreal for sure. I’m trying to balance the excitement and just getting back to getting ready for an intense battle. Going to put the work boots on and I’m all in.”
McIlrath enters the Capitals first-round playoff series as the only player on the team to have previously fought Rangers behemoth Matt Rempe. McIlrath held his own with the 6-foot-7, 240-pound Rempe on November 20, 2022, ending the fight with a takedown. Eighty-three percent of HockeyFights.com voters declared McIlrath the winner.
“Obviously, he’s a big tough guy and if he’s in the lineup, he’s going to try to be effective using his physicality,” McIlrath said. “I’ve matched up against him lots in the minors. We know each other well. Obviously, I have one tussle with him. But playoff hockey, you’re just trying to gain an advantage any way you can. It’s pretty tight. There’s not a lot of scraps in playoffs, but you know what, if it happens, it happens.
With Nick Jensen and Rasmus Sandin injured, McIlrath could well make it onto the Capitals’ playoff lineup against the Rangers. Jensen and Sandin practiced with the team on Saturday for the first time since getting injured, but remain in no-contact jerseys. Head coach Spencer Carbery said that they would travel to New York and could end up playing but did not confirm whether either would be ready for Game One.
If he stays in the lineup, McIlrath would face a familiar team in the Broadway Blueshirts. The Rangers drafted McIlrath 10th overall in the 2010 NHL Draft — 16 spots ahead of Evgeny Kuznetsov — and he made his NHL debut with them in 2013. But McIlrath spent most of his time New York’s organization playing for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack before he was traded to the Florida Panthers in 2016.
“It’s special just to go back to where it all started for sure. A lot of great memories there,” McIlrath said. “But as far as me holding any personal vendettas, that ship has sailed. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there. I enjoyed my time there, but look, we’re going there all business. This is about the Washington Capitals and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
