A long, painful road
Caps close to sipping from Cup, putting failures behind them
WASHINGTON — As checkered playoff histories go, the Capitals haven’t been around nearly as long as some NHL teams.
The track is still long and sad.
There was Pat Lafontaine of the Islanders beating them in the four-overtime “Easter Epic” back in 1987. Esa Tikkanen missing a wide-open net in the Stanley Cup Final loss to the Red Wings in 1998.
Heck, losing nine of 11 postseason meetings against the Penguins alone is filled to the brim with gut-wrenching letdowns.
The puck finally seems to be bouncing the right way for the Capitals, who built a 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final against the Golden Knights after some rare postseason fortune. Lars Eller’s double-overtime winner off his right skate kept his team out of a 3-0 hole in the first round. Then came a cathartic, six-game elimination of the Penguins behind a patchwork lineup full of rookies.
Against the Golden Knights, Braden Holtby made the stick save of a lifetime to lock up a Game 2 win and opponent James Neal clanked a shot off the post in Game 4, staring at as much net as Tikkanen had 20 years ago.
It’s as though all the bad breaks from the previous 42 seasons of Capitals hockey are being erased — or at least somewhat forgotten — in a run that could deliver the franchise’s first title.
“It’s like the franchise was star-struck,” said David Poile, the Capitals’ general manager from 1982-95.
“They’ve had all these really good teams, all of these opportunities that appeared that this could be the year that they could win playoff rounds and compete for the Cup or win the Stanley Cup. It just feels like — as Barry Trotz would say — the hockey gods have evened things out.”
Before this spring, the Capitals had made it past the second round of the playoffs just twice and reached the final once, when Tikkanen and Co. were swept by the Red Wings. Abe and Irene Pollin, the longtime owners of the Capitals and NBA’s Bullets/ Wizards, had to learn how to handle losing.
“My husband and I had developed a habit of when we lost, we would go to eat frozen custard to help us deal with the loss,” Irene Pollin recalled.
For many of the players who have been through it all, the strong showing against the Knights is long overdue.
“I’m part of history. I’m part of not winning a Cup here for a long time,” said longtime high-scoring winger Peter Bondra, who played for the Capitals from 1990-2004.
“I don’t even play, but I feel like a part of this team. It’s just something in it. Obviously, I played here for 14 years, I grew up here with the team as a player. Seeing this would be amazing.”