For Caps, long wait for Stanley Cup is over
LAS VEGAS » The waiting is over. For the Washington Capitals. For Alex Ovechkin.
For Barry Trotz.
For the first time since the franchise’s inception in 1974, the Stanley Cup is headed to D.C. after a dramatic, come-from-behind 4-3 win over the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at TMobile Arena on Thursday night.
“It meant everything,” Ovechkin said after the game.
“I think this moment, we (have been) waiting a long, long time. Since day one, (team owner) Ted (Leonsis), I was at his house. We just kind of met the family. We were swimming in the pool. He told me, like, one day we’re going to win it. It was the first year. I (didn’t) even know what the team is.
I knew he wanted it so bad. This organization want it so bad. It’s nice to be part of it. It’s nice to be in this organization all 13 years, 14, whatever. It just was — joy. Was tough time, but we fight through it and we get result. Now I’m going home to our family, our fans. It’s just something special, you know. I don’t know. I’m just very excited and I’m very happy right now.”
Ovechkin was named the Conn Smythe winner as the most valuable player of the postseason after leading the league in playoff goals (15, the most since Sidney Crosby in 2009), including one in Game 5 and three in the Cup Final overall, while also accumulating 12 assists.
He seemed willing to soak the moment in; he took off his skates in front of the media podium and happily hoisted the Cup up on top of it before taking his seat, sandwiching himself between it and the Conn Smythe after 13 seasons of chasing the game’s most prized hardware.
For Trotz, it had been 20 years — first as the coach of the Nashville Predators, and then as Washington’s bench boss — and as the leader of a team that hadn’t gotten the job done in 44 years, he found it fitting that his captain, often-chastised for not winning the big one, handed him the Cup.
“It was sort of a real special moment because we’ve sort of lived the same life a little bit,” Trotz said. “We had a conversation. Obviously, we were down 2-0 against Columbus. We said, we’re winning tomorrow, and we’re going to go win a Cup together.
“We got a good bond. I think we have a good relationship. I was really happy for him. I’m so happy for that group, for all the stuff that they had to endure, all the things that were said about them, Ovi in particular, (Nicklas Backstrom), that whole group. To me, they changed all the narratives. They checked off every box. Look at every series, we were down in every series, come back in every one. It was probably fitting we were down in this game and had to come back and win.”
A packed house at Capital One Arena celebrated the first Cup win in franchise history, as well as a huge crowd that formed a sea of red that spanned for blocks. Veteran defenseman Dmitry Orlov, in summing up his own emotions, likely spoke for his fanbase that’s finally tortured no longer.
“This is going to be one of the best memories of my life...it’s unbelievable,” he said. “It’s hard to explain everything. You want to cry, you want to smile, you want to yell. It’s great. Nobody believed in us this season, and we did it.”