(Photo by Alena Schwarz)
Standing only 5’10” tall and weighing 185 pounds, Mathieu Perreault may be one of the smallest Caps, but he makes a big difference. Pererault had the game winning goal Tuesday night against the Winnipeg Jets, sealing the Southeast Division championship for the Caps.
“I’m very excited,” said he after the game. “We battled hard all season. We had a rough start but we finished on top in our division. We showed a lot of character. The big guys came through and we stuck it out.”
It’s clear that 25-year old Perreault, a native of Drummondville, Quebec, loves hockey. He always plays hard when he is on the ice and is never short on emotion. His exuberant celebration after his goal Tuesday was no exception. And the fans loved it.
“We can’t always rely on our big guys. We have four lines that can play. The third and fourth lines have really helped the team. We had two goals tonight,” he added.
But at 14:44 in the third period, with the Caps up by only one goal in their most important game of the season, Perreault received a two minute penalty for high-sticking. “I was really nervous to be honest,” he revealed. “The guys did a really good job to help me out and kill the penalty. It’s not a good feeling at all, but the guys did a good job to kill it.”
The Caps went on to win 5-3.
With the Southeast Division Championship under their belts, what’s next for Perreault and the Caps? “We are going to have home ice advantage in the playoffs which is a good thing. We have a couple games left and then we’ll get our game ready for the playoffs,” he said.
The Caps will play their last two regular season games at home. Their next game is Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators.
