Six years ago today, the Washington Capitals won the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship. A journey that seemed improbable, if not impossible, for a team that had previously endured countless years of playoff heartbreak was complete.
To mark Friday’s Cupiversary, the Capitals posted a photo of defenseman Michal Kempny, who wore number 6 for Washington, hoisting the Cup over his head with “years ago” emblazoned on his jersey’s nameplate.
Surrounding Kempny are other enduring images from the postgame on-ice celebrations.
The Capitals reached hockey nirvana in Vegas on June 7, 2018 on the back of goals from Jakub Vrana, Alex Ovechkin, Devante Smith-Pelly, and Lars Eller. Braden Holtby made 28 saves in Washington’s net.
Ovechkin and Vrana struck in the second period of Game 5 to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead before Vegas scored two unanswered to flip the game on its head. With just 10:08 left in the third period, DSP’s now classic goal set up the ensuing months of partying as he made a diving effort to put a puck past Golden Knights netminder Marc-Andre Fleury and tie the game back up.
The ultra-clutch tally was DSP’s seventh goal of that postseason and cemented him as a DC sports legend.
Less than three minutes after DSP tied the game, Lars Eller found himself all alone in front of a yawning Vegas cage after a Brett Connolly shot beat Fleury but didn’t have enough momentum to get across the goal line. The Tiger slammed home the eventual game-winning tally and sent Capitals fandom into bedlam.
With the Cup-winning goal, Eller became the first-ever Danish player to lift the NHL’s most storied trophy.
The Capitals clung onto the lead Eller provided through a bizarre, heart-stopping clock malfunction and Vegas’ final push, where they recorded every shot in the game for the rest of regulation after going down a goal.
Then the clock hit zero.
Alex Ovechkin finally hoisted the Stanley Cup over his head after 12 seasons with the organization that made him the first overall draft selection in 2004. The Great Eight paraded Lord Stanley’s Cup around the ice before handing it off to his closest running mate for most of those seasons, Nicklas Backstrom.
Ovechkin would also earn the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason’s MVP after recording 27 points (15g, 12a) in 24 playoff games.
Happy Cupiversary!
Parts of this story are copied from a past RMNB article.
