The Washington Capitals were without Alex Ovechkin Saturday against the New York Islanders, but he was still there in spirit.
In the tunnel, after giving Zdeno Chara a nice how-do-ya-do, TJ Oshie continued his tradition of high-fiving, chest-bumping, and screaming at Ovechkin. Without the star winger in the flesh, he just used his imagination.
After landing in Washington via a trade deadline deal, Michael Raffl admitted that he didn’t know anyone personally on the Capitals. Now, he officially has a friend in the team’s captain, Alex Ovechkin.
Thursday, ahead of Raffl’s Capitals debut, Ovechkin welcomed the gritty forward to the team with a bad pun.
“You know what I did last night?” Ovechkin asked his teammates in the huddle. “I went to the gas station to buy Raffl tickets.”
Richard Panik, who recently played in his 500th career game, showed off an unknown talent during warmups on Friday.
As Tom Wilson and Carl Hagelin played some of their smooth jazz, Panik joined the band and added some sweet bass.
Tom Wilson is beloved by his teammates and his return to the lineup was a big deal. The Capitals posted a ridiculous video in the morning to celebrate his return while TJ Oshie posted a photoshopped Free Willy movie poster to his Twitter.
Wilson’s strong reception continued pregame as his Capitals teammates sang to him in the tunnel before hitting the ice before warmups.
The Washington Capitals have a lot of pregame routines. Over the years it’s included biting, cup checks, butt slashes, screaming profanity, and lots of high fives.
One of the less-heralded, but equally ridiculous superstitions was done by Jakub Vrana and Madison Bowey. The two friends would hold hands going out to the ice for warmups.
But now with Bowey out of the organization, Vrana has found a new teammate to continue the tradition during the 2020-21 season: the very serious and professional Nicklas Backstrom.
NBC Sports Washington posted footage of the Capitals from warmups on Wednesday, and I’m happy to say the team continued its weird pregame routines. And maybe added some new ones?
A quick summary. The Capitals did their individual high fives in the tunnel. John Carlson and Jakub Vrana also did some dancing. TJ Oshie and Tom Wilson also continued their NHL-best butt slashes.
By Ian Oland 3 years ago
TJ Oshie and Tom Wilson may never win an individual NHL award, but together, they have created history.
Oshie and Wilson’s butt taps, where they whack each other in the derrière with their hockey sticks, has won the NHL’s Fans Choice Award as the Best Pregame Ritual.
I’m not sure if I should offer them congratulations or buy them each a bottle of Blu Emu numbing cream.
By Ian Oland 3 years ago
TJ Oshie recently spoke to the Men In Blazers’ Roger Bennett and revealed the backstory behind his epic beer chug after the Capitals’ Stanley Cup championship in 2018.
Oshie also spent a majority of the interview explaining the how and why of the Capitals’ pregame rituals, including his butt slashes with Tom Wilson. Earlier this season, Oshie broke his stick over Wilson’s derriere.
By Ian Oland 3 years ago
NBC Sports Washington trained an overhead camera on the Washington Capitals while they were in the tunnel readying for warmups in Winnipeg, Thursday.
And it’s… a lot.
The Capitals, who are known for already having an exorbitant amount of pregame rituals and superstitions, now have even more with the addition of Brenden Dillon.
When you’ve played 1,140 games in the NHL, things can get monotonous, which is probably why Alex Ovechkin is getting weirder with age.
The Capitals legend, who already gets his cup painfully checked by John Carlson during pregame warmups, is expanding his routines in the tunnel before taking the ice.
The Capitals tweeted an edited video of Ovechkin’s superstitions before the game and I hope you’re ready for this.
