June 13, 2018

Last week, on June 7, the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL) stunned the Vegas Golden Knights with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory to win the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final four games to one. The Capitals scored two goals midway through the third period, erasing a 3-2 deficit along with 44 years of NHL shortcomings. It was the first Stanley Cup win for Washington (D.C.), a team that had enjoyed much regular season success but none in the postseason since entering the NHL in 1974.

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals raises the Stanley Cup after his team defeated the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, on June 7, 2018. Credit: © Jeff Bottari, Getty Images

The Capitals long-awaited title ended the hopes of the upstart Golden Knights, a first-year expansion team that made an improbable run through the playoffs to reach the final. The freshly minted Golden Knights fans showed their appreciation, however, cheering their team off the ice after the final horn ended the season late Thursday at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.

Since Washington’s first NHL season in 1974-1975, the Capitals had made just one appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, a demoralizing sweep by the Detroit Red Wings in 1998. In recent years, the Caps, led by star left winger Alex Ovechkin, tantalized their fans by winning 7 of the last 10 division championships. Much to the team’s and its fans’ disappointment, however, they were bounced early from the playoffs each time. This year was different. The Caps roared through the postseason, knocking off the Columbus Blue Jackets and the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins before outlasting the Tampa Bay Lightning in a hard-fought seven-game Eastern Conference Final.

Ovechkin led the Caps run, and he earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Ovechkin scored 3 of his playoff-best 15 goals in the final series against Vegas. Centers Evgeny Kuznetsov (20 assists) and Nicklas Backstrom, winger T.J. Oshie, defender John Carlson, and goalie Braden Holtby all played key roles for the Caps in the postseason. Journeyman Devante Smith-Pelly, a fourth-line forward, brought unexpected scoring to his team. He tallied seven playoff goals, including three during the final’s five games.

Compared with long-suffering Capitals fanatics, Golden Knights fans were born with silver (or was it golden?) spoons in their mouths. Vegas compiled the most successful season for a first-year expansion team in NHL history. Vegas almost paired its spoons with a big silver cup following its regular season Pacific Division crown and a rampage during the Western Conference playoffs. Led by centers William Karlsson and Jon Marchessault, wingers David Perron and Reilly Smith, defender Nate Schmidt, and star goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, the Golden Knights bested the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks before beating the Winnipeg Jets in the conference final. The Jets playoff crash continued the Stanley Cup drought for Canadian teams. The last team from north of the border to reach the final was the Vancouver Canucks in 2011, and the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993—lamentable statistics for hockey’s home country.

Vegas was the first expansion team to reach the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season since the St. Louis Blues did it in 1968. Like the Golden Knights, the Blues ran out of magic in the final, where they lost to the Canadiens four games to none.