Time CAPSule - Caps Fall to Philly in Overtime of Game 7

Earlier this season, we posted Alex Ovechkin](https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/early-times-of-the-great-eight/c-311761890) and another Nicklas Backstrom](https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/backstrom-takes-center-stage/c-313921356). In the process of crafting those stories and talking to the subjects themselves and many others, we were reminded of how exciting and thrilling the 2007-08 NHL season was in these parts.

It stands as Ovechkin's career year, it was Backstrom's rookie year, Bruce Boudreau took over behind the Washington bench on Thanksgiving Day, and the Caps made the playoffs for the first time in five years, winning 15 of 19, 11 of 12 and seven straight at season's end to come back from a dismal 6-14-1 start to win the Southeast Division title.

That season and that run into the playoffs augured in the "Rock The Red" era of hockey in DC, the beginning of 11 playoff appearances in a span of a dozen seasons. At this time a dozen years ago, the Caps were in the midst of that wild run. With the NHL's 2019-20 season "paused" for the foreseeable future, we're going to spend the next month looking back at the day-to-day of that remarkable late-season run, revisiting some of our coverage at the time with some fresh hindsight mixed in. On the off days between games, we will revisit some events from earlier in that landmark season. Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Caps woke up on this day a dozen years ago with their season at an end. Joffrey Lupul's Game 7 overtime goal ended their storybook season the night before; Lupul's power-play goal came on as rebound at 6:06 of the extra session, a mere nine seconds before Washington defenseman Tom Poti was to be released from the penalty box where he was serving a tripping minor.

Down 3-1 to the Flyers in the series in their first taste of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and company came back to force a deciding seventh game - including a comeback from a two-goal deficit on the road in Game 6 - before bowing out in overtime.

It was the first of what would be many difficult and frustrating playoff experiences over the next decade. Ironically enough, it was two years ago today (April 23) that the Caps moved past the Columbus Blue Jackets with a Game 6 victory in Ohio's capital city, finishing off the first of four foes they vanquished on the way to that elusive first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history in the spring of 2018.

Here's our postgame notebook for that difficult morning after, a dozen years ago.

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First Kick at the Cup -Few of the game's superstars of the last few decades have fared well in their first playoff voyages, at least from the standpoint of team success. Ovechkin fared quite well from an individual standpoint, and he can take some solace in the numbers the good folks at Elias Sports Bureau tallied up. Take a look (stat line is games-goals-assists-points):

Gordie Howe 1947 vs TOR 5 0 0 0 (Lost 1-4)

Bobby Orr 1968 vs MTL 4 0 2 2 (Lost 0-4)

Guy Lafleur 1972 vs NYR 6 1 4 5 (Lost 2-4)

Wayne Gretzky 1980 vs PHI 3 2 1 3 (Lost 0-3)

Mario Lemieux 1989 vs NYR 4 3 2 5 (Won 4-0)

Sidney Crosby 2007 vs OTT 5 3 2 5 (Lost 1-4)

Alex Ovechkin 2008 vs PHI 7 4 5 9 (Lost 3-4)

Three years after his maiden playoff voyage, Howe got his name etched on the Stanley Cup for the first of four times. Two years after Orr's playoff debut, he won the first of his two Cups with the Bruins. Lafleur won the first of his five Stanley Cup championships in 1973, a year after his first taste of playoff hockey.

Four years after Gretzky's playoff debut, he won the first of his four Stanley Cup titles. Two years after Lemieux cut his playoff teeth, he won the first of his two Cups. Crosby is now in his second go-round in the playoffs, and the smart money has him winning multiple Cups before it's all said and done.

Ditto Ovechkin.

The Backbreaker -Plenty will point to the Flyers' second goal as the one that will hurt now that this one is all said and done, but Philly's first goal might have been more preventable in retrospect.

In the latter stages of the first period, Washington's fourth line of Donald Brashear, Boyd Gordon and Eric Fehr were on the ice and dominating the Flyers in the attack zone. They were cycling, laying the body, and doing the right things, the necessary things to do against an aging defense playing its second game in as many nights.

Even more noteworthy, they were doing so with Philly's top blueline pair of Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen on the ice, and with top six Flyers forwards Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell on the ice, too (with rookie Steve Downie). In the midst of this dominant shift, the Caps were able to get fresh troops over the boards and on the ice. That unit was the Brooks Laich-Nicklas Backstrom-Alexander Semin trio. They briefly picked up where their predecessors left off, but soon lost possession of the puck.

The weary Flyers began to break the puck out toward the red line so they could get a change, but before they could get to the neutral zone they were hampered. Semin hooked Mike Richards, who had been on the ice for 85 tough seconds at that point. Richards wasn't looking to rush the puck up ice for a scoring chance; all he was looking to do was gain the red line and dump it in so he and his mates could get off the ice.

Naturally, Philly's Scott Upshall scored on the ensuing power play, a shot that trickled through Cristobal Huet's pads and barely trickled over the goal line. That goal tied the game at 1-1, and only four minutes of brilliant penalty killing - with two of Washington's best penalty killers in the box - by the Caps kept it that way heading into the second period.

When Semin took Richards down, the Caps had a 1-0 lead and all the game's momentum. The penalty came with 6:01 left in the first, and Washington owned an 18-7 lead in shot attempts at that juncture of the game. In the previous 13 minutes, Philadelphia had just one shot on net, an Upshall shot from 58 feet away.

The Semin penalty altered the complexion of the game, and the Caps were never quite able to swing the momentum entirely back in their favor.

Nick of Time - Backstrom scored his fourth goal in as many games to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Each of Backstrom's four goals in the series was also Washington's first goal of the game.

Five in a Row - Laich's longest regular season scoring streak is three straight games. He finished up the playoffs with a point or better in each of his last five contests.

Young Guns, Top Guns - The Caps' group of "Young Guns" acquitted itself well in its first foray in the Stanley Cup playoffs; the quartet was also Washington's top four in playoff scoring. Ovechkin led the Caps in playoff scoring with nine points, and he and Backstrom tied for the team lead with four goals each.

Semin was second on the team in scoring with eight points (three goals, five assists), and Mike Green was third with seven points (three goals, four assists). Along with Laich, Backstrom finished tied for fourth with six points (four goals, two assists).

5-on-3 Fervor - Backstrom's first goal was Washington's third 5-on-3 goal of the postseason. The Caps had three 5-on-3 goals during the entire 82-game regular season.

Game 7 Blues - Washington is now 1-5 all-time in Game 7s. The Caps are still seeking their first playoff series win since taking the Eastern Conference Finals from the Buffalo Sabres in 1998 on their way to the lone Stanley Cup finals appearance of their history.

Ice Time - Coburn and Timonen logged 28:46 and 28:24, respectively, to lead all skaters on both sides.

Flyers forward Patrick Thoresen skated just 4:37 over seven shifts, and he took but one 34-second twirl after the end of the second period. He skated less in this game than any player on either side. But Thoresen's name will be forever etched in Washington's inglorious playoff lore.

During one of his rare shifts in the second period, he checked Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn into Washington goaltender Cristobal Huet, causing Huet to go down and leaving the net wide open. Flyers forward Sami Kapanen then deposited the puck into the open net to give Philly a 2-1 lead.

The NHL's written explanation of the Kapanen goal followed shortly thereafter:

"Explanation on Philadelphia's second goal at 9:47 of the second period - Washington's Shaone Morrisonn plays the puck and Philadelphia's Patrick Thoresen lays a legal body check on Morrisonn. No Philadelphia player makes contact with Washington goaltender Huet (Rule 69). This play is not reviewable."

The Only One - The team scoring the first goal has won 10 of the last 11 Game 7s in the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.

Keeping it in the Family - Twenty years ago, when the Caps won the only Game 7 of their history and came back to down the Flyers in the only comeback from a 3-1 series deficit in their history, defenseman Kevin Hatcher was a key cog in the Washington blueline corps. He netted the game-winner in Game 5 of the series.

Hatcher's younger brother Derian was plus-1 with 22:01 of ice time for the Flyers in Tuesday's Game 7 win for Philadelphia.

Down on the Farm - The ECHL South Carolina Stingrays missed a second straight chance to oust the Gwinnett Gladiators from the Kelly Cup playoffs. The Rays won the first two games of the best-of-five set, but Gwinnett's Tuesday win evened the series at 2-2.

The deciding Game 5 will be Wednesday night at North Charleston Coliseum.