Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
April 17, 2010 - After a franchise record 121-point season, the 7th most by a team ever at the time, the Capitals entered as heavy favorites to not only beat the Montreal Canadiens in the 1st round, but to win the Stanley Cup. Their first playoff game did not go so great, a 3-2 OT loss in which Alex Ovechkin was held without a point or a shot for the first time in his career. In Game 2, Ovechkin wasted no time responding, throwing two enormous hits just seconds into his first shift. Ovechkin's physical play continued throughout the period, highlighted by a play where he body-checked Roman Hamrlik into the goal immediately after taking a shot. Ovechkin and the Caps skaters were playing well, but bad goaltending and defensive lapses had the Caps down 4-1. Ovechkin assisted on a Backstrom goal to cut the lead to 4-2 late in the second period, and in the third, an early goal from Ovi cut the deficit to one. Ovechkin then set up Backstrom for the tying goal to complete the thrilling comeback. With all the momentum on their side, in classic playoff Capitals fashion, the Caps then allowed a goal to go down 5-4. One of the greatest comebacks in Caps playoff history suddenly seemed for naught, until Ovechkin got a playoff-career-high 4th point of the night with an assist on a rookie John Carlson's first career playoff goal, though it is worth noting that this goal is mostly the work of Nicklas Backstrom, who was having arguably the best playoff game of his career. In overtime, Backstrom completed the first hat trick of his career to cap off one of the best comebacks the team has ever had, and Washington won their first playoff overtime game on home ice since 1998. The mini "slump" Ovechkin had after the Olympics appeared to be over, as he and the Caps dominated the next two games in Montreal, winning both games by an 11-4 margin and taking a 3-1 series lead. And then Jaroslav Halak had one of the best three-game stretches a goalie has ever had, stopping 131/134 shots in the final three games, and the Caps lost in 7. Hockey can be so stupid and painful sometimes. Watching anything from this series still makes me sad to this day - not just because of the stunning blown lead but also because of the identity crisis it sparked for the Caps in the early 2010s. But with Ovi's monster stat line of 1G - 3A - 4P, 6 shots, and 8 hits, his performance this night absolutely deserved its own video, even if the memories it conjures up aren't so great.
- 1st Period -
0:00 - Intro
1:07 - Big hits on Marc-Andre Bergeron and Andrei Markov
1:28 - Hits on Josh Gorges and Scott Gomez
1:39 - Hit on Roman Hamrlik
1:53 - Bonus: Eric Fehr 2-1 goal
3:05 - Shot and throws Hamrlik into the net
3:48 - Passing play with Backstrom and Knuble
3:58 - Counter hit on Brian Gionta
- 2nd Period -
4:10 - Shot
4:39 - Shot
4:56 - Pass to Backstrom for chance
5:07 - Assist 1 on Backstrom goal
- 3rd Period -
6:38 - Goal
8:06 - Assist 2 on Backstrom tying goal
9:33 - Hit on Gorges
9:42 - Ovechkam
10:18 - Assist 3 on Carlson tying goal, great play by Backstrom
11:43 - Chance at end of regulation
- Overtime -
12:06 - Backstrom wins it in OT with his first hat trick
14:06 - Al Koken and Alan May discuss Ovi's game
More classic Ovechkin games - youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH8bFa0t7qpQfBYEXybnEr9NbAqFcPyyq
April 17, 2010 - After a franchise record 121-point season, the 7th most by a team ever at the time, the Capitals entered as heavy favorites to not only beat the Montreal Canadiens in the 1st round, but to win the Stanley Cup. Their first playoff game did not go so great, a 3-2 OT loss in which Alex Ovechkin was held without a point or a shot for the first time in his career. In Game 2, Ovechkin wasted no time responding, throwing two enormous hits just seconds into his first shift. Ovechkin's physical play continued throughout the period, highlighted by a play where he body-checked Roman Hamrlik into the goal immediately after taking a shot. Ovechkin and the Caps skaters were playing well, but bad goaltending and defensive lapses had the Caps down 4-1. Ovechkin assisted on a Backstrom goal to cut the lead to 4-2 late in the second period, and in the third, an early goal from Ovi cut the deficit to one. Ovechkin then set up Backstrom for the tying goal to complete the thrilling comeback. With all the momentum on their side, in classic playoff Capitals fashion, the Caps then allowed a goal to go down 5-4. One of the greatest comebacks in Caps playoff history suddenly seemed for naught, until Ovechkin got a playoff-career-high 4th point of the night with an assist on a rookie John Carlson's first career playoff goal, though it is worth noting that this goal is mostly the work of Nicklas Backstrom, who was having arguably the best playoff game of his career. In overtime, Backstrom completed the first hat trick of his career to cap off one of the best comebacks the team has ever had, and Washington won their first playoff overtime game on home ice since 1998. The mini "slump" Ovechkin had after the Olympics appeared to be over, as he and the Caps dominated the next two games in Montreal, winning both games by an 11-4 margin and taking a 3-1 series lead. And then Jaroslav Halak had one of the best three-game stretches a goalie has ever had, stopping 131/134 shots in the final three games, and the Caps lost in 7. Hockey can be so stupid and painful sometimes. Watching anything from this series still makes me sad to this day - not just because of the stunning blown lead but also because of the identity crisis it sparked for the Caps in the early 2010s. But with Ovi's monster stat line of 1G - 3A - 4P, 6 shots, and 8 hits, his performance this night absolutely deserved its own video, even if the memories it conjures up aren't so great.
- 1st Period -
0:00 - Intro
1:07 - Big hits on Marc-Andre Bergeron and Andrei Markov
1:28 - Hits on Josh Gorges and Scott Gomez
1:39 - Hit on Roman Hamrlik
1:53 - Bonus: Eric Fehr 2-1 goal
3:05 - Shot and throws Hamrlik into the net
3:48 - Passing play with Backstrom and Knuble
3:58 - Counter hit on Brian Gionta
- 2nd Period -
4:10 - Shot
4:39 - Shot
4:56 - Pass to Backstrom for chance
5:07 - Assist 1 on Backstrom goal
- 3rd Period -
6:38 - Goal
8:06 - Assist 2 on Backstrom tying goal
9:33 - Hit on Gorges
9:42 - Ovechkam
10:18 - Assist 3 on Carlson tying goal, great play by Backstrom
11:43 - Chance at end of regulation
- Overtime -
12:06 - Backstrom wins it in OT with his first hat trick
14:06 - Al Koken and Alan May discuss Ovi's game
More classic Ovechkin games - youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH8bFa0t7qpQfBYEXybnEr9NbAqFcPyyq
