Stanley Cup
This was new for at least a generation of D.C. sports fans. The championship is the first by a Washington professional sports team in the NFL, NBA, NHL or Major League Baseball since the Redskins won the Super Bowl on Jan. 26, 1992, and came 40 years to the day the Bullets won basketball’s title.
As police officers blocked F Street and announcements were made about the last Metro train, many fans ignored those pleas and kept partying on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery and in bars surrounding the rink. A couple of fans climbed light poles and one even scaled the nearby dragon tower.
“It’s just a relief, man,” longtime Capitals fan Arash Tafakor said amid the celebration. “We haven’t had a championship in a long time. This puts the monkey off our back — all of D.C. sports.”
This time a year ago, Ovechkin and the Capitals were limping away from another early playoff exit. His 16 even-strength goals in the regular season tied for the lowest of his career. Injuries limited him to five goals in 13 playoff games.
Then a funny thing happened. Coach Barry Trotz took time from visiting his son in Russia to meet with Ovechkin and talk about changing and evolving his game at age 32. Time doesn’t stop, not even for the greatest goal-scorer of his generation. Trotz and general manager Brian MacLellan wanted more goals, better foot speed and for their cornerstone player to take care of his body to be able to handle more time on the ice.
“That’s just life: You have to change, you have to grow,” Trotz said. “He was motivated to show everybody that he still is a great player in this league.”
Ovechkin led the NHL with 49 goals in the regular season — the oldest player to finish first in goals since Phil Esposito in 1974-75 — and showed in his 13th season he could lead his team to the Cup. Ordinarily a team would be running out the clock on the final three seasons of a 13-year deal with a player of his age, but now Ovechkin is a Stanley Cup champion and there is no telling how much more the big forward can do in his NHL career.
“He was very comfortable and he was very confident,” longtime teammate Nicklas Backstrom said. “He was really calm. Everything was really good. It’s impressive the way he scores goals and the way he worked out there. He was just a machine there in the playoffs.”
The Capitals will hold their title parade on Tuesday, riding down Constitution Avenue to the National Mall beginning at 11 a.m.