Month: June 2018

Barry Trotz Resigns as Capitals Head Coach

iveymichael , , ,

Just 11 days after winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, the Washington Capitals are without a head coach.

On Monday, Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweeted that Capitals head coach Barry Trotz was stepping down from his position after he and the team were unable to come to terms on an extension to his current contract, which expires on July 1st.

Just minutes later, the Capitals officially announced the resignation by releasing a statement on behalf of the organization, which read:

“Barry Trotz informed the organization today of his decision to resign as head coach of the Washington Capitals. We are obviously disappointed by Barry’s decision, but would like to thank Barry for all his efforts the past four years and for helping bring the Stanley Cup to Washington. Barry is a man of high character and integrity and we are grateful for his leadership and for all that he has done for our franchise.”

The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun tweeted that there was a clause in Trotz’s contract with Washington that would automatically extend the deal by two years and bump his salary from 1.5 million to 1.8 million if the Capitals were to win the Stanley Cup.

However, $1.8 million is considered below market value for a Cup-winning coach, especially when other championship coaches like Toronto’s Mike Babcock and Chicago’s Joel Quenneville annually make $6.25 million and $6 million, respectively. Recently hired New York Rangers head coach David Quinn, who has no previous NHL coaching experience, was just given a five-year deal work $2.4 million annually.

Both Trotz and the Capitals could not agree to a restructured deal, so Washington accepted his resignation and will allow him to talk with other teams about coaching vacancies.

The only NHL team currently without a head coach are the New York Islanders, who relieved Doug Weight of his coaching duties back on June 5th.

Trotz released a statement after the news was announced.

“After careful consideration and consultation with my family, I am officially announcing my resignation as Head Coach of the Washington Capitals. When I came to Washington four years ago we had one goal in mind and that was to bring the Stanley Cup to the nation’s capital. We had an incredible run this season culminating with our players and staff achieving our goal and sharing the excitement with our fans. I would like to thank Mr. Leonsis, Dick Patrick and Brian MacLellan for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this great organization. I would also like to thank our players and staff who worked tirelessly every day to achieve our success,” Trotz said.

Trotz finishes his tenure in Washington with a 205-89-34 overall record over four seasons. During that time, the Capitals won three division championships, two Presidents’ Trophies and the Stanley Cup this past season. Prior to coaching Washington, he served as the bench boss of the Nashville Predators for the first 16 years of that franchise’s existence.

In his 20-year NHL coaching career, he has amassed 762 wins, 568 losses, 60 ties and 134 overtime losses in 1,524 games coached. His 762 coaching victories rank him fifth on the all-time wins list in NHL history behind Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (884), Ken Hitchcock (823) and Al Arbour (782).

Stanley Cup Final Game 5 Recap: Washington Capitals Win Stanley Cup

iveymichael

The Washington Capitals franchise joined the NHL as an expansion team for the 1974-75 season. They won only eight games total that year.

That is a stark contrast of the Vegas Golden Knights, who this year finished their inaugural campaign with a 51-24-7 regular season record and an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.

Tonight was about the Capitals, however, and their superstar captain Alexander Ovechkin winning the franchise’s first ever Stanley Cup championship with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Final.

The game remained scoreless going into the second period. The Capitals struck first when 22-year-old Jakub Vrana wristed a shot past Vegas goaltender Marc Andre-Fleury to make it 1-0 at the 6:24 mark.

Three minutes later, former Capital and current Golden Knight defensemen Nate Schmidt deflected a shot past Washington goaltender Braden Holtby to tie the score 1-1. Just seconds after the goal, however, Vegas committed a penalty. On the ensuing power play, a slick pass by Niklas Backstrom found Ovechkin at the side of the net. Ovechkin buried the one-timer to give the Capitals the lead once again.

Vegas responded with a goal from David Perron at the 12:56 mark of the second to make it 2-2. The Golden Knights took the lead with just 29 seconds remaining in the period when Reilly Smith was able to bury a feed from Alex Tuch into the back of Washington’s net on the power play to make it 3-2 Vegas. The goal capped off one of the most memorable periods of playoff hockey in recent memory.

The Golden Knights needed to hold off the Capitals for 20 minuets in order to force a Game 6 back in Washington, but were unable to do so.

Halfway through the third period, a keep in by the Capitals in the offensive zone led to the puck finding Devante Smith-Pelly in front of the Vegas net. As Smith-Pelly was tripping, he was able to shot it into the net past Fleury to tie the score 3-3.

Two-and-a-half minutes later, a turnover in the Vegas defensive zone led to Brett Connolly having a wide open shot attempt in front of the Vegas net. The puck was able to sneak between Fleury’s legs, and Lars Eller was there to brush it into the net to give Washington a 4-3 lead with 7:37 left in regulation.

A furious effort by the Golden Knights to tie it again fell short, and the Capitals poured onto the ice and dogpiled on each other as the final horn sounded.

Ovechkin looked like a little kid on Christmas morning as he touched the Cup for the first time before raising it over his head and taking a victory lap with it around the ice.

Many people go to Las Vegas to try and make their dreams come true, and that’s exactly what Ovechkin and the Capitals did tonight.

Stanley Cup Final Game 4 Recap: 6-2 Capitals Victory Puts Them on Cusp of First Cup

iveymichael

On Monday, the Washington Capitals moved one victory away from their first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history with a 6-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 of the Final.

The victory gave Washington a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Early on it was Vegas who was generating the best scoring chances and came close to capitalizing on a couple, including a few open net chances. The Golden Knights were unable to cash in on any of them, however, and the game remained scoreless until a Capitals power play opportunity led to a goal by T.J. Oshie to make it 1-0 Washington at 9:54 of the first period.

From that point on it was all Capitals, who were able to score two more goals before the first period ended to extend their lead to 3-0. The second and third Washington goals were scored by Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly.

The lone goal of the second period came from Capitals defensemen John Carlson on the power play to push Washington’s lead to 4-0 at the 15:23 mark.

Vegas was finally able to get on the board when James Neal scored his sixth goal of the playoffs to make it 4-1. 6:43 later, Reilly Smith added another Golden Knights goal to cut the deficit to just two.

They wouldn’t get any closer than that, however, as Washington defensemen Michal Kempny scored just over a minute after Smith’s goal to make it 5-2 Capitals with 6:21 remaining in regulation.

A Brett Connolly power play goal made it 6-2 with 1:09 left in the game.

Washington can clinch the Cup with a victory in Game 5 Thursday night in Vegas, but nothing is guaranteed. The Washington Capitals have blown the most 3-1 playoff series leads of any team in professional sports, doing so five different times. The Vegas Golden Knights haven’t lost four straight games this season and have won 3+ consecutive games 10 different times, including twice in these playoffs.

Stanley Cup Final Game 3 Recap: Capitals Win to Take 2-1 Series Lead

iveymichael

After a tense two games in Vegas, the Stanley Cup Final shifted to Washington, D.C. where the hometown Capitals took a 2-1 series lead with a 3-1 victory over the Golden Knights in Game 3 on Saturday night.

The first period saw quality scoring chances from both teams, but ended in a scoreless tie. The Capitals appeared to score the opening goal, but it was waved off after Devante Smith-Pelly was penalized for goaltender interference.

1:10 into the second period, Washington took a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from Alexander Ovechkin. During a mad scramble in front of the Vegas net, goaltender Marc Andre-Fleury made a few saves but wasn’t able to cover the puck before Ovechkin backhanded his 14th goal of the playoffs into the back of the net.

At the 12:50 mark of the second, Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, who suffered an arm injury in Game 2 and was questionable to play in Game 3, scored his 12th goal of the playoffs to give Washington a 2-0 lead.

Going into the third period, the Golden Knights desperately needed to catch a break, and that’s exactly what happened 3:29 into the final frame. While playing the puck behind his net, Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby blindly passed the puck to the front of the net. The puck deflected off of Vegas forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s stick and found the stick of Game 1 hero Tomas Nosek, who tapped it into the open net to cut the deficit to a single goal.

With 6:07 remaining in regulation, Washington’s Jay Beagle caused Shea Theodore to turn the puck over near the Vegas net. He passed it to Smith-Pelly in front of the net, who proceeded to roof a shot past Fleury to give the Capitals a 3-1 lead.

Washington was able to shut down Vegas the rest of the way to inch just two more victories away from their first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history.

Game 4 is Monday night in Washington and can be watched at 7 p.m. on NBC.