Time CAPSule - Ovechkin's First Playoff Goal Wins it for Caps

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!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Seeing the first playoff action of their young NHL careers, the Caps' group of "Young Guns" came to the fore in the final 20 minutes of Friday night's Game 1 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers. Down 4-2 heading to the third period, the Caps got two goals from Mike Green and a late-game winner from Alex Ovechkin, while Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom each found the scoresheet with third-period assists. The end result was a 5-4 Washington win and a 1-0 series lead.

Fourth-line winger Donald Brashear got the Caps rolling early in the game, giving the Caps a 1-0 lead at 3:16 of the first, mere seconds after the Flyers successfully killed an early penalty. Noted Cap killer Vinny Prospal tied it for Philly later in the first, and it was a 1-1 contest at first intermission.

In the second, Brashear's linemate David Steckel celebrated his return to the lineup after missing more than a month with a broken finger. Matt Bradley made a sublime backhand feed to set up Steckel's first career playoff goal, restoring the Caps' lead at 2-1 at 4:08 of the second. It was the second primary helper for Bradley, who also set up Brashear's goal.

Philly scored three unanswered goals in the back half of the second, striking thrice in a span of just 3 minutes and 36 seconds. Prospal scored his second of the game and another noted Caps killer - Daniel Briere - scored twice to enable the Flyers to carry a 4-2 lead into the third period. The second Briere goal came on a Philadelphia power play, the Flyers' third goal in a span of five shots on Caps netminder Cristobal Huet.

Before the third period was two minutes old, the Caps pulled to within one. Sergei Fedorov and Semin combined to set up Green's first goal, as he crept in from the right point and beat Philly's Martin Biron to make it a 4-3 contest at 1:50.

Less than five minutes later, the Caps were on a power play when Green's blast from center point felled Philly forward Patrick Thoresen. As Thoresen writhed in pain on the ice, Ovechkin and Backstrom combined to tee up another bid, and this time Green pumped the puck past Biron, tying the game at 4-4 at 6:26 of the third.

Held without a shot on goal for nearly the first 53 minutes of the game, Ovechkin single-handedly manufactured the equalizer with less than five minutes left in the game. Philly typically deployed its top defensive pairing of Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen against Ovechkin's line, but the Caps' young superstar was able to exploit the Flyers' third pairing late in the game. He got in on the forecheck and executed a swipe and snipe, stripping first Jaroslav Modry and then Lasse Kukkonen of the puck before firing it behind Biron at 15:28.

"They held him in check pretty good, but he's one of the guys that needs one chance," said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau of Ovechkin at night's end.

The Young Guns had a huge impact on the outcome of the contest, but so did Washington's fourth line. In addition to setting up the Caps' first two goals of the game, Bradley laid seven hits - second to Ovechkin's eight on the team - and Steckel won eight of 12 draws (67 percent).

Here's our postgame notebook from Game 1.

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History, Again - Washington made history just to get into the playoffs, becoming the first team in NHL history to go from 14th or 15th in the conference at midseason to a playoff berth. The Caps did it again on Friday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Philadelphia Flyers at Verizon Center.

Down 4-2 heading into the final frame, the Caps rallied on two Mike Green goals and Alex Ovechkin's game-winner to earn a 5-4 win and jump out to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The victory was the first ever by the Capitals in a playoff contest in which they trailed by as many as two goals in the third period.

Can't Keep a Good Man Down - Only once all during the 82-game regular season - on Oct. 8 against the Islanders in New York - did the opposition hold Washington winger Alex Ovechkin without a shot on goal for an entire game.

The Flyers kept Ovechkin from getting a shot on goal in the first 52-plus minutes on Friday. The Caps' star sniper had three shots blocked and missed the net with two other bids in the first 40 minutes of the game. He did not record his first shot on goal until 12:53 of the third.

After skating 13:25 in the first 40 minutes, Ovechkin logged 8:25 in the third. He recorded five of his eight hits in the final frame and recorded three shots on goal. He potted the game-winner when his forecheck caused Flyers defensemen Jaroslav Modry and Lasse Kukkonen to play hot potato with the puck. Ovechkin stripped Kukkonen and then calmly fired the puck over a prone Martin Biron to ice Washington's 5-4 victory.

Helping Huet - Caps goaltender Cristobal Huet was nicked for four goals on Friday, the most he has allowed in a game since his last game in a Montreal uniform. Huet surrendered five goals in a 5-4 Montreal loss to the Penguins on Feb. 21.

Huet has been bailing the Caps out of tough spots virtually since his arrival in the District on Feb. 26, and the Caps bailed him out on Friday.

Philly scored three times in the second period of Friday's game, the first time the Caps have surrendered that many goals in a period since Chicago pounced on Washington for four first-period strikes on Mar. 19.

Washington roared back with three of its own in the third period to make a winner of Huet in his first NHL playoff appearance in two years.

Two Down? No Problem - Friday night marked the first time the Caps were down two goals in a game since Mar. 21 at Atlanta. The Caps rebounded to win that one, too.

Long Time Coming - Although they twice gave up the lead in Friday's series opener, the Caps rallied to win their first home playoff game in almost seven years. Washington's previous home ice playoff win was on Apr. 12, 2001. That was a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh in the Game 1 of the opening round series between the Caps and the Pens.

Shots Down - The Caps managed only four first period shots on goal and went without a shot on net for more than 13 minutes in the first frame. Through two periods, the Caps had just 15 shots. They finished with 27, their lowest total in a game since they fell 5-0 in Chicago on Mar. 19.

O From the D -Washington defensemen combined to total 148 points during the regular season. The last Caps team to get more scoring from its blueline was the 1997-98 team that advanced to the Stanley Cup finals. That blucline bunch accounted for 151 points.

In Friday night's series opener, Washington defensemen chipped in with two goals and two assists for four points.

Biting the Hand that Once Fed Him - Playing in his 50th career NHL playoff contest, Caps left winger Donald Brashear got Washington on the board first in Friday night's Game 1. Brashear's goal came at 3:16, just two seconds after the expiration of Mike Knuble's slashing minor.

Brashear's goal was his first since Mar. 3 against Boston, and it was his first playoff goal since Apr. 25, 2004. In that game, Brashear was a member of the Flyers and he tallied a power play goal at 17:57 of the first period of a second-round series against Toronto. Philly went on to win the game, 2-1.

Streak Stopper - Vaclav Prospal's first period goal for Philly was the first even strength goal allowed by Caps goaltender Cristobal Huet in a span of 127:38. The prior even strength goal surrendered by Huet came at the 39-second mark of the first period of Washington's 4-1 win over the Lightning on Apr. 3. Bolts blueliner Filip Kuba beat Huet that night.

Triumphant Returns -Matt Bradley and Sergei Fedorov are among the few members of the Capitals with previous NHL playoff experience. Bradley played in 10 Stanley Cup contests with San Jose as a rookie in 2002, but did not record a point. He collected his first two playoff points on Friday, assisting on each of Washington's first two goals, by Brashear and David Steckel.

Fedorov made a brilliant play to set up the first of Mike Green's two goals on the night. The point was Fedorov's first in the NHL playoffs since he scored a goal for the Detroit Red Wings against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim on Apr. 16, 2003.

OSU Connection - Caps center David Steckel and Flyers winger R.J. Umberger were roommates at Ohio State University. Both players were chosen in the first round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. Umberger went to Vancouver with the 16th overall choice and Los Angeles chose Steckel with the 30th pick.

Dozen Debuts - Twelve members of the Capitals made their NHL playoff debuts on Friday: John Erskine, Alex Ovechkin, Boyd Gordon, Nicklas Backstrom, Brooks Laich, Milan Jurcina, Shaone Morrisonn, Alexander Semin, David Steckel, Tomas Fleischmann, Steve Eminger and Mike Green. Half of them - Erskine, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Steckel and Green - recorded their first NHL playoff points tonight.

Familiar Foe I - When Washington was last in the playoffs in 2003, it went up against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. The Flyers' Prospal was a member of the Bolts in those days, and he tallied three goals and five points in that six-game series against Washington. He had two goals and a helper against Washington in Friday night's series opener.

Familiar Foe II - When the Hershey Bears won the 2006 Calder Cup championship, they did so by defeating the Milwaukee Admirals in a six-game final series. Flyers defenseman Ryan Parent - who made his NHL playoff debut here on Friday - was a member of that Admirals team. Seven members of the 2006 Bears are now with the Capitals.

Not-So-Familiar Foe Anymore - Ex-Flyers center and general manager Bob(by) Clarke was in the house here tonight. Back in April, 1984 the Caps swept the Flyers in three straight games in the very first playoff series ever between these two old Patrick Division rivals. Those games were the coda of Clarke's illustrious Hall of Fame career. Clarke had two goals and three points in the three games, but he hung up the skates for good after the Flyers were eliminated that spring.

Happy Birthday - To Hershey winger Ben Clymer, born on this date in 1978. And to ex-Caps center Trevor Linden, born on this date in 1970.

Down on the Farm - While their two parent teams were doing battle in the District, the AHL Hershey Bears were paying a visit to the Philadelphia Phantoms at the Wachovia Spectrum on Friday night. Like their parent team, the Bears came back with a big third period to down a Philly team.

The Phantoms took an early lead on a Triston Grant goal, but Hershey's Chris Bourque netted his 27th of the season on a power play at 6:44 of the first with help from Danny Svyret and Jonathan Paiement.

Philly netted a power play goal of its own when Ryan Potulny scored at 8:33 of the second to restore the Phantoms' one-goal advantage.

Bourque answered again in the third, tallying his 28th of the season and second of the night on a Bears power play at 2:55. with assists from Kyle Wilson and Josef Boumedienne. Minutes later, Wilson netted his 29th of the season to give the Bears their first lead of the night. Paiement picked up the lone assist on the play.

Alexandre Giroux sealed it with a shorthanded empty-net goal in the final minute of regulation. Syvret and Jason Morgan had the helpers. Frederic Cassivi made 31 stops to pick up the win in the Hershey goal.

With the win, the Bears moved closer to clinching a playoff berth. With one more point gained by the Bears or not gained by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Bears will earn a spot in the Calder Cup playoffs. The Bears host Philadelphia on Saturday and Binghamton on Sunday.