A year ago, the Washington Capitals were strangers in their own building, limping to another nonplayoff season. For the finale, Verizon Center became Buffalo South. The Sabres were in town, and their fans made up more than half of the 18,277 in attendance.
The Capitals’ fans were drowned out, and superstar Alex Ovechkin was booed every time he touched the puck.
It was embarrassing but expected. When winning teams like Buffalo and Pittsburgh visited, they had the advantage.
Fast-forward to last night in Chinatown. Again, the announced crowd was 18,277. Everything else was different — most importantly, the result.
The formerly sad-sack Capitals, a nonissue on the D.C. sports scene for five years through the NHL lockout and then a painful rebuilding process, are returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Veteran center Sergei Fedorov scored late in the second period to break a 1-1 tie and lift the Capitals to a 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers to clinch the Southeast Division title and the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals will fly into the postseason on a seven-game winning streak. They will host Philadelphia or Ottawa for Games 1 and 2 next week.
Oh, yeah, this is one of my dreams, said Ovechkin, a favorite to win the league’s MVP award after finishing with 65 goals and 112 points. It’s only one step. Now we can think about playoff games.
The crowd was at a fever pitch for nearly 2½ hours, exploding after goals by Tomas Fleishmann, Fedorov and Alexander Semin.
It was good to see a sea of red, owner Ted Leonsis said outside a jubilant Capitals’ locker room. We’ve awoken a giant. This is a great, great market and has a great fan base. They wanted something to believe in and sink their teeth into.
It has been five years since Washington made the playoffs, a decade since it won a postseason series.
It’s special, defenseman Tom Poti said. It’s a privilege and an honor to be in the playoffs. I can’t say how excited we are in this room to have a shot at the Stanley Cup. For the last month and a half, every game’s been a must-win, and we’ve had to play perfect hockey. We found a way to win a lot of those games, and that’s what good teams do. The playoffs aren’t any different.
This team appeared headed anywhere but to the playoffs in November. When Bruce Boudreau took over on Thanksgiving Day after a decorated career in the minor leagues, the Capitals had the NHL’s worst record (6-14-1) — this a year after finishing with the third-fewest points in the league.
But Boudreau’s arrival, improved play from the holdover roster and three deadline-day deals by General Manager George McPhee on Feb. 26 that netted Fedorov, starting goalie Cristobal Huet and gritty winger Matt Cooke.
The Capitals escaped last place of the division and conference Dec. 29. They climbed over .500 for good Feb. 5. That climb was completed last night.
Since Boudreau took over, the Capitals are 37-17-7.
There was a never a word of couldn’t’ or we won’t’ or we can’t,’ Boudreau said. It was always about pushing through and believing in yourself. We had to win seven in a row at the end just to get in, and they were all playoff Game 7s.
The division title became possible Friday night when Florida defeated the Carolina Hurricanes. The Capitals came to the rink knowing a win would clinch the division and a loss would end their season.
Even before that result, we all believed that if we won, we would be in the playoffs, Cooke said. Once [Carolina] lost, we realized there was a possibility of home ice in the first round, and that”s something we wanted badly. The room had the most intensity we’ve had in a while. And we squeezed the sticks early on, because we knew we had control of our destiny for the first time.
The Capitals were reeling throughout the second period until Fedorov received a cross-ice, backhand pass from Semin and blistering a slap shot past Florida goalie Craig Anderson with 4:57 remaining in the second period.
Florida was pushing hard, and they had to nothing to save it for, Cooke said. We were scrambling for a while, and that goal made us relax because it told us we were doing the right things.
Semin added an insurance goal early in the third period.
Semin and Fedorov represent two ways the Capitals built a playoff team.
After so many free-agent blunders, Leonsis and McPhee committed to building through the draft. That netted Semin, Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green. And not needing binoculars to see the playoffs, the Capitals added veterans like Fedorov — seasoned playoff performers — to make one final push.
We told everybody we were going to rebuild, and it’s going to feel really good when we get there, Leonsis said. The people have bought in. I really believe we’re going to be in the playoffs for a long, long time.
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