Time CAPSule: Knuble Wins it in Double OT, Pushing Caps to Precipice

Earlier this season, we posted a lengthy piece on Alex Ovechkin's early years in DC and another shorter piece on Nicklas Backstrom's five-year contract extension. 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!

Friday, April 18, 2008

The Caps are back in D.C. on this morning a dozen years ago, and with their backs against the wall. They played better in Game 4 in Philly than they had in previous games in the series, but Mike Knuble's goal in double overtime gave the Flyers a 4-3 victory and a 3-1 series lead. The Caps host Game 5 in the District on Saturday afternoon, and they're in "must win" territory now.

For the third straight game, Philly got on the board first. The Flyers jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Jeff Carter goal that came just 42 seconds after the opening puck drop. The Caps' power play struggled in the first three games of the series, but Washington scored a pair of extra-man tallies in the first to take a 2-1 lead, its first lead since the third period of Game 1.

Nicklas Backstrom tied it with an extra-man tally at 2:41 of the first, sneaking to the back door on the weak side and scoring on a perfect feed from Alex Ovechkin. Alexander Semin made it 2-1 when he scored on a 5-on-3 manpower advantage at 12:59, taking a sublime feed from Backstrom and giving the Caps a chance to take a lead to an intermission for the first time in the series.

Alas, it wasn't to be. Carter struck again with 1:27 left in the initial period, and it was a 2-2 game after 20 minutes of play.

Early in the second, Steve Eminger slung a wrist shot past Philly netminder Martin Biron from the right circle, putting the Caps back up, 3-2. This time, Washington was able to take its first lead of the series to the room after 40 minutes of play.

But midway through the third, Philly's Daniel Briere scored his fifth goal of the series on a Flyers power play, knotting the score at 3-3. Briere's goal came seconds after Caps goalie Cristobal Huet made a desperate, acrobatic save on Scottie Upshall to preserve the slim Washington cushion. Briere's goal was particularly painful; it came after the Caps were whistled for their second "too many men" bench minor of the game.

The two teams headed to overtime for the first time in the series. Sergei Fedorov narrowly missed winning it for the Caps early in the extra session, only to be denied by Biron on an odd-man rush opportunity. Both goaltenders made great saves to force a second overtime, but Knuble won it on a goalmouth scramble at 6:40 of the second overtime, seconds after Huet made a big stop to prevent a Carter hat trick.

"You take it home and have to take care of business there," said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau afterwards. "They counted us out after Game 2. They counted us out after Game 3. I'm sure they'll count us out now. When they had to win seven in a row, they did it. So don't count us out."

Here's our postgame notebook from Game 4.

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OT Heartache - Each of Washington's last two overtime playoff games has been a multiple-overtime affair, and the Capitals have come up on the short end of both contests.

Prior to Thursday's 4-3 overtime setback against Philadelphia in Game 4, Washington absorbed a triple-overtime defeat in Game 6 of its 2003 first-round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Apr. 20, 2003. The Lightning's Martin St. Louis supplied the game-winner in that one.

The New York Islanders' Pat Lafontaine, Brian Mullen and Ray Ferraro, the Penguins' Petr Nedved and the Bruins' Darren Van Impe are the other players who have victimized the Caps in a multiple-overtime contest over the years.

Washington's last win in a multiple-overtime playoff contest came on Apr. 26, 1998 when Joé Juneau gave the Caps a win in double-overtime against the Bruins. Juneau and Mike Gartner are the only Caps who have ever scored a double-overtime game-winner for Washington. Gartner scored his in double-overtime against the Islanders on Apr. 11, 1985.

The Caps are now 14-18 all-time in overtime games and are 8-11 in overtime playoff games on the road. Washington is now 2-2 in overtime playoff games against the Flyers.

The Caps have now lost four consecutive overtime playoff contests. Washington has lost seven of its last eight Stanley Cup playoff games overall.

Shot Selection - Once again, the Caps finished the game with more intended shots that missed their mark - 28 were blocked and 18 missed the net - than shots on goal (41).

In the four games in this series, the Capitals have 111 shots on goal. They have had 85 shots blocked and have missed the net with 62 of their tries. For the series, Washington has gotten just 43% of its intended shots on goal. The Caps got 47% of their shots on net in Thursday's game.

Caps left winger Alex Ovechkin led the NHL with 446 shots on goal during the regular season, the second most shots on goal ever and an average of about 5.5 shots on goal per game. Tonight, Ovechkin had one shot on goal, three shots blocked and six shots that missed the net.

For the series, Ovechkin has 13 shots on goal (3.25 per game), 14 shots that have been blocked, and 14 that have missed the net for a shots on goal rate of just 31.7%.

Borrowed Lid -Ovechkin's helmet was damaged in an early-game scrum, and he was forced to borrow the bucket of teammate Boyd Gordon. When Ovechkin made the pass to set up Nicklas Backstrom's power play goal at 2:41 of the first, he was wearing Gordon's visorless helmet.

As one observer upstairs commented, "It looks like one of those Slapshot Sundae helmets on his head."

Make It Stop - When Philly's Jeff Carter netted his second goal of the game at 18:33 of the first period, it marked the fourth consecutive period in which Washington surrendered a goal within the final two minutes of the frame.

Better Than Usual - Even though Carter's goal prevented the Caps from taking a 2-1 lead to the first intermission, Thursday was the first time in three games that the Caps were not down by two goals after 20 minutes. It also marks the first game of the series in which the Caps were never down by two goals at any point in the contest.

44 Caliber - Caps defenseman Steve Eminger skated 21:27 in Thursday's game, the most he has logged since Apr. 4, 2007 when he skated 21:38 in a game against the Thrashers in Atlanta.

Eminger scored his first NHL playoff goal on Thursday, his first NHL goal since Jan. 16, 2007 in Ottawa. He turned in a strong game overall, recording a plus-1 and dishing out five hits on the night.

"I've been playing or practicing all year," said Eminger on Wednesday. "I'm not going to change anything. I thought my first [playoff] game was pretty solid. That's the way I'm going to play, [be] physical and make the simple pass. Hopefully we can get things turned around."

Good Boys - Philadelphia was whistled for one minor penalty - a delay of game call on defenseman Braydon Coburn for knocking the net off its moorings in the final minute of the second period - in the final 73:54 of Thursday night's game.

A Night Off -The person responsible for the in-game entertainment at Wachovia Center was apparently given the night off on Thursday. For an hour or so before the game, the scoreboard showed nothing but quotes clipped from Washington Post columnist Mike Wise's Wednesday piece.

Nice that they would supply patrons with reading material, but odd that there was nothing that compelling in any of the local papers.

A First -Mike Knuble's overtime game-winner was the first game-winning goal of the veteran winger's 27-game Stanley Cup playoff career.

Multiple Overtime Winner - Knuble's game-winner was the fifth multiple-overtime game-winning goal in Flyers history, and the team's first ever in Philadelphia.

Knuble joins Don Blackburn (Apr. 16, 1968 at STL), Ken Linseman (Apr. 11, 1980 at EDM), Keith Primeau (May 4, 2000 at PIT) and Mark Recchi (Apr. 16, 2003 at TOR) among Flyers who have netted an overtime playoff game-winner beyond the first overtime.

Derian Haters - Flyers defenseman Derian Hatcher worked hard to come back from a broken leg, and this is the thanks he gets. When Hatcher went to the penalty box for slashing at 12:46 of the first period, the Wachovia Center crowd responded with loud chants of, "a\\hole, a\\hole!"

Tough town. ;)

Condolences - To Flyers defenseman Jaroslav Modry on the loss of his father, who passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Down On The Farm - Congratulations to the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays, who have advanced to the second round of the Kelly Cup playoffs. The Rays fell into an 0-2 hole in their best-of-five opening round series against the Augusta Lynx, but the Stingrays eliminated the Lynx last night after winning three straight with their backs against the proverbial wall.

Next up for the Stingrays, a best-of-five set against the Gwinnett Gladiators. Game 1 is Friday night at North Charleston Coliseum and Game 2 is at the same venue on Saturday.