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The 2010s was the best decade in history for the Washington Capitals as they finished off with the top record in the league. Even without the 2018 Stanley Cup run, this decade still had many memorable moments for the Caps. Let’s look back at some of these moments – not even counting the best part.
Jan. 5, 2010
Alex Ovechkin was named as the Capitals captain, becoming the Caps’ 14th captain in franchise history. In his first game as captain, the Caps won 4-2 against the Montreal Canadiens. But something else happened that day – John Carlson won the heart of USA Hockey fans by scoring the Golden Goal in overtime against Canada in the World Juniors to beat the hosts, 6-5. It was the first gold medal for the US since 2004 and ended a run of six straight gold medals for Canada.
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 28, 2019
Feb. 5, 2010
Just one month later, Ovechkin reached the 500 point plateau in just 373 career games. The milestone came on his second goal and third point in a 6-5 win over the New York Rangers. It gave the Caps their 12th straight win, a franchise record.
April 11, 2010
The Capitals concluded a historic season with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins and finished the year with 121 points. They became the first non-Original Six team to eclipse the 120 point plateau capturing their first ever President’s Trophy.
June 14, 2010
In mid June, the Capitals AHL affiliate Hershey Bears won their second consecutive Calder Cup. The roster included future Caps contributors such as Mathieu Perreault, Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Jay Beagle, Tomas Fleischmann. Michael Neuvirth backstopped the Bears in the playoff run.
June 25-26, 2010
After a disappointing playoffs, Washington had the 26th overall pick in the draft. They made no mistake picking Evgeny Kuznetsov with that 26th overall pick. The Capitals also drafted Philipp Grubauer in the 2010 draft in the fourth round, 112th overall.
Jan. 1, 2011
The Caps beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 in a much anticipated Winter Classic. The game will always be remembered for the collision between David Steckel and Sidney Crosby, giving the later a concussion.
April 20-23, 2011
Three words that will forever encompass the “Rock the Red” era of Washington Capitals hockey. “We are louder!” The Caps were facing the New York Rangers for the second time in three years in the playoffs. After Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said Madison Square Garden. Up 3-0 in Game 4, the MSG faithful responded by chanting “Can you hear us?” It was short lived as the Caps scored three goals in the third to tie it before Jason Chimera scored in double overtime to send the Caps back to DC for Game 5 with a 3-1 lead. Three days later, the Caps faithful at 7th and F streets chanted the famous words up 1-0 a little less than halfway through the first period. The Caps would finish off the Rangers with a 3-1 in Game 5
June 24, 2011
At the draft, the Capitals traded their first round pick (26th overall) to the Chicago Blackhawks for Troy Brouwer, who recorded 152 points in 293 games for Washington.
Nov. 28, 2011
Four years after he was hired, the Capitals fired Boudreau. Boudreau finished his Capitals coaching career with a 201-88-40 record. The Capitals hired Dale Hunter as his replacement.
April 25, 2012
That postseason, the Caps drew a tough first round opponent in the Boston Bruins, the defending Stanley Cup Champions. With injuries to Tomas Vokoun and Neuvirth, Braden Holtby was thrown into action and he did not disappoint. In Game 7, Joel Ward scored the game winner in overtime to send the Caps past the defending champions.
June 22, 2012
With the 16th overall pick in the draft, the Caps drafted Tom Wilson. After a couple of seasons as a grinder, Wilson has developed into the player they expected him to be when drafting him with that pick, a top-line power forward.
June 26, 2012
Four days later, the Caps hired Adam Oates as Head Coach.
May 12-13, 2013
After a lockout shortened season, the Caps won the Southeast division once more and faced the Rangers in the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons. The Caps took a 3-2 lead in the series, only to get shutout in Games 6 and 7 on consecutive nights, losing Game 7 5-0 on home ice.
July 3, 2013
This was perhaps one of the weirdest off-season award honors in NHL history as Ovechkin was named to both the First and Second NHL All-Star teams. He made the first team a a right winger and the second team as a left winger.
April 9, 2014
With a 3-1 over the Dallas Stars, the Columbus Blue Jackets eliminated the Caps from playoff contention. The Caps missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2006-2007 season.
April 26, 2014
A couple weeks later, the Caps fired head coach Adam Oates and general manager George McPhee.
May 26, 2014
One month later, the Caps hired Barry Trotz as head coach and promoted Brian MacLellan to general manager.
June 28, 2014
With the 13th overall pick in the 2014 draft, the Caps drafted Jakub Vrana.
Nov. 4, 2014
In a 4-3 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames, Alex Ovechkin surpassed Peter Bondra for most points in franchise history.
Dec. 13, 2014
Nicklas Backstrom recorded his first regular season hat trick in a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Jan. 1 2015
After participating in the Winter Classic four years before, the Caps got their shot to host in 2015 packing Nationals Park. With 12.9 seconds left in regulation, Brouwer scored the game winner to send fans home happy.
March 15, 2015
With two assists in a game against Boston, Backstrom became the franchise’s leading assist getter.
March 31, 2015
Two weeks later, Ovechkin scored his 50th goal of the season. It was his sixth time scoring 50 goals in a season.
April 2, 2015
Days later, Ovechkin scored goals 51 and 52 against the Canadiens to surpass Bondra as the franchise’s leading goal scorer.
April 27, 2015
With a 2-1 over the New York Islanders in Game 7, the Caps closed the Nassau Coliseum.
July 2, 2015
After another second round exit, MacLellan made one of his signature trades. He traded Brouwer and Pheonix Copley to the St. Louis Blues for TJ Oshie.
Nov. 19, 2015
With his ninth goal of the season, Alex Ovechkin surpassed former teammate Sergei Fedorov for the most goals scored by a Russian in the NHL.
Jan. 10, 2016
In a dominant 7-1 over the Ottawa Senators, Ovechkin scored his 500th and 501st career goals. He was the fifth fastest player to hit 500 goals.
April 9-10, 2016
Ovechkin scored 50 goals in a season again and became just the third player in NHL history to have seven or more 50-goal seasons. After another dominant regular season, the Caps finished with 120 points and won their second Presidents Trophy
June 22, 2016
At the NHL award ceremony, Holtby won the Vezina for the league’s top goalie after going 48-9-7, with a 2.20 Goals Against Average and a .922 save percentage and Trotz won the Jack Adams award for Coach of the Year.
Jan. 11, 2017
Just 35 seconds into a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ovechkin notched his 1,00th career point in game number 880 with the Caps.
March 4, 2017
With a 2-1 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers, the Capitals extended their home-win streak to 15 games including a perfect 6-0-0 record in January and a 7-0-0 record in February.
April 9, 2017
The Caps concluded the regular season once again at the top of the league with a 55-19-8 record winning their second straight Presidents Trophy.
May 10, 2017
The Caps once again lost to the Penguins in the playoffs falling in Game 7 2-0. The loss ended the “two year window” the Caps had to win the Stanley Cup and sparked an off-season of change.
Sep. 15, 2017
After the off-season of many changes, Ovechkin gave a prediction of how the team is going to do in the 2017-18 season. “We’re not going to be suck this year,” the captain said. He was right.
Oct. 5-7, 2017
Ovechkin kept his side of the bargain in a historic fashion to open up the 2017-18 season. In the 100th year of the league, Ovechkin did something nobody had done since the start of the league, he had back-to-back hat tricks to start the year. More impressive, Ovechkin did it in back-to-back periods, and scored his seventh goal of the season in the second period of the second game for an impressive seven goals in three periods.
Oct. 21, 2017
With his 20th career regular season overtime goal, Ovechkin passed Jaromir Jagr for most all time.
Nov. 25, 2017
Ovechkin recorded his 20th career hat trick, passing Bondra for most in franchise history.
March 3, 2018
The Capitals played in their third outdoor game, second as a host, of the decade as they hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2018 Stadium Series game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
March 12, 2018
Ovechkin scored his 600th career goal in a win over the Winnipeg Jets. He became the 20th player to reach the milestone and the fourth to do it in under 1,000 games.
April 1, 2018
Ovechkin played his 1,000 career game in a 3-1 over the Penguins in Pittsburgh. The win also clinched the Caps their third straight Metropolitan division championship setting the stage for the months to come.
June 18, 2018
Days after leading the Caps to the Stanley Cup, Trotz resigned as the Capitals head coach.
June 29, 2018
11 days after Trotz stepped down, the Cpas promoted Todd Reirden to the head coaching job.
Dec. 11, 2018
With his 21st career hat trick, Ovechkin passed Pavel Bure for most all time by a Russian.
March 20, 2019
Backstrom reached the 50 assist mark for the sixth straight season.
March 30, 2019
After two seasons without reaching the 50 goal plateau, Ovechkin regained that benchmark with two goals against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
April 4, 2019
With a 2-1 over Montreal, the Caps clinched their fourth straight Metropolitan Division title.
Dec. 20, 2019
In their 900th game together, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom both scored. Backstrom registered his 900th career point in the game.
