The Washington Capitals lost their home opener Saturday night, 5-3, to the New Jersey Devils, which was not the icing on the cake everyone hoped for while the organization celebrated its 50th anniversary.
But it was still a party last week at the Capital One Arena – a 50th birthday.
They had a Caps 50 Fest on Thursday night featuring Capitals players and more than 70 alumni on hand, followed by a Third Eye Blind concert. Those who attended got a party favor – a 50th Anniversary T-shirt. All it cost them was $19.74 – a nod to the 1974-75 inaugural season of the Capitals. How nostalgic.
Then, before the opener against the Devils at the arena, the team put on an impressive pregame ceremony for the crowd of 18,573 with the alumni of Capitals players taking the ice for introduction based on the era they played in.
Goaltender Charlie Lindgren, who gave up four goals Saturday night, was impressed. “It was a really fun week,” he said “I got a chance to know a few of them (alumni). This organization, I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s such a family atmosphere here.”
Imagine the atmosphere if the move to Potomac Yards in Northern Virginia in 2028 was still in play. Caps 50 Fest and the pregame festivities on F Street would have been a wake.
With that in mind, it seems that you can’t really celebrate 50 years of the Washington Capitals without mentioning 80-year-old Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas, who threw a stink bomb in Transparent Ted’s plans and killed the project.
This is a part of their 50-year history Transparent Ted would like you to forget. Since it happened just a few months ago, that’s hard to do, no matter how many media tours he does to try to speak it out of existence.
Without her, Transparent Ted would have been celebrating 54 years of the Capitals in Alexandria. Seems like she is a very important figure in the history of the franchise.
So is Alex Ovechkin.
The 39-year-old future Hall of Famer is on the path to history, starting the season 42 goals from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goal mark of 894. He didn’t make any headway Saturday night, held without a shot for just the 23rd time in his 20-year career. But he got off to a slow start last season, scoring just eight goals in his first 43 games. Then he took off and scored 26 goals in 36 games and Washington (40-31-11) made the playoffs in coach Spencer Carbery’s first season, only to be swept in the first round by the New York Rangers.
Carbery appeared to respond to Ovechkin’s shot shutout in the opener by moving him from the left side of their top line, where he has spent the majority of his career, to the right for Tuesday night’s game against Vegas.
“We just mix it up,” Ovechkin told reporters after practice Monday. “I have experience to play there, but it was a long time [ago]. But, again, [if] you start on the left or right, it doesn’t matter because in the game you’re coming from offensive zone to D zone and you stay on the right side. So, play basically most of the time there – left or right.”
General manager Brian MacLellan made some dramatic changes this offseason, bringing in six new players to give Ovechkin some help – enough to make this Capitals team interesting. But from what we saw Saturday night, it may take some time.
“With the new guys we are still figuring out our team identity,” Tom Wilson said after the opener. “It’s still early in the year.”
It wasn’t quite a fair matchup – a battle between Commanders owner Josh Harris, who also owns the Devils, and Transparent Ted. The Devils had already played four games – two in Prague before their own home opener on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. This was Washington’s first regular season game, after playing two preseason games in the prior 12 days. It showed.
“I thought you could tell for a little bit that was our first game and this was their fourth,” Lindgren said.
Maybe too much birthday cake, too.
“The Caps do such a nice job, from the Thursday night deal to the red carpet before (the Saturday night game),” Lindgren said. “They do a really good job of incorporating the fans and making it easy for us players to vibe with the fans.”
Yes, they do. The Capitals have long had the best fan experience in town. They make it a party at Capital One Arena.
But if Transparent Ted had his way, it would have been a funeral.
• You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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