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My Top Caps Moments of the Regular Season

Alright, people. Throughout the season I published 3 versions of my Caps top 10 favorite moments. Now that the regular season is over, I put all those moments and more into one big comprehensive top moments of the season post. Enjoy.

30. Every shutout (10/18/16 vs COL, 11/18/16 vs DET, 12/11/16 vs VAN, 12/23/16 vs TBL, 1/5/17 vs CBJ, 1/7/17 at OTT, 1/13/17 vs CHI, 1/15/17 vs PHI, 2/5/17 vs LAK, 2/7/17 vs CAR, 3/2/17 vs NJD, 4/5/17 vs NYR)

We have been #blessed by our goalies this season. When all was said and done, Holts and Grubi gave us twelve shutouts. Good god. Holts had 9 and Grubi had 3. This was incredibly impressive, and resulted in a Jennings Trophy.

29. Every Andre Burakovsky goal (10/13/16 at PIT x2, 12/21/16 at PHI, 12/27/16 at NYI, 1/5/17 vs CBJ, 1/15/17 vs PHI, 1/16/17 at PIT, 1/19/17 at STL, 1/21/17 at DAL, 1/26/17 at NJD, 2/4/17 at MTL, 4/2/17 at CBJ)

We all love Andre and Andre loves us. How do I know this? Because he’s scored so many goals. Look at him he’s such a cute happy lil bean when he scores. Every goal is a treasure. Unfortunately he was sidelined with an injury for far too long, else I feel he could have scored many more.

28. Every TJ Oshie shootout goal (10/13/16 at PIT, 12/16/16 at CAR, 12/21/16 at PHI, 3/23/17 vs CBJ)

Caps = not good in shootouts (winning 2 out of 7). Oshie = good in shootouts (scoring 4 out of 6 times). I love Shootout King TJ Oshie, and every goal is a thing of beauty. He even decided to give us an encore of the 2014 Olympics.

27. Every shorthanded goal (11/11/16 at CHI, 11/16/16 vs PIT, 12/29/16 vs NJD, 1/16/17 at PIT, 2/11/17 vs ANA)

Personally, I think shorthanded goals are more exciting than power play goals. They don’t happen as often, and it shifts momentum in your favor. Our PK is so awesome they scored a big handful of them. Also, 2/5 of our shorties came against Pittsburgh so that makes them extra special.

26. Every OT winner (11/3/16 vs WPG, 11/11/16 at CHI, 12/5/16 vs BUF, 12/7/16 vs BOS, 1/3/17 vs TOR, 1/21/17 at DAL, 3/4/17 vs PHI, 3/28/17 at MIN)

I really love OT winners, they’re incredibly exciting. All told, we had a grand total of 8 OT winners this year, and we had a number of different OT heroes. Go check em out.

25. Garrett Mitchell’s NHL Debut (4/9/17 vs FLA) (x)

We had a number of players make their NHL debuts throughout the season, but this one was special. Garrett Mitchell has been on the Hershey Bears for 6 years, and he is currently the captain. On the last day of the season, the Caps decided to reward him for his hard work in the organization by calling him up to make his NHL debut and play in one game. And to make things even better, Nicklas Backstrom purposely got kicked out of the faceoff circle so that Mitchell could take the opening faceoff. Cue the waterworks.

24. Breaking the streak (1/5/17 vs CBJ)

Fun fact: I was actually at this game. The photo above is of me and a sign I made, which got on TV and then subsequently was everywhere (NHL Network, On the Fly, RMNB, the NHL twitter account). That game was so much fun to be at. The boys were super motivated and they crushed the Jackets. Everyone was on their A-game and they killed that winning streak. In the arena near the end of the game we chanted “kill the streak,” and that entire game was electric and awesome.

23. Dmitry Orlov’s sweet goal against Pittsburgh (11/16/16 vs PIT)

Orlov got his first goal of the year in a rout against Pittsburgh, and he celebrated by plowing over a Penguin and bodyslamming the glass.

22. Dmitry Orlov’s sweet pass to Evgeny Kuznetsov (11/23/16 vs STL)

The Russian brothers roared into the zone and Orlov slid a fantastic pass to Kuzy for a tap home. It’s pretty sweet, just watch it.

21. All of the times Andre Burakovsky scored the first goal of the game (1/15/17 vs PHI, 1/16/17 at PIT, 1/19/17 at STL, 1/21/17 at DAL)

I love my boy so much. Earlier in the year my boy got into a stretch where he really wanted to be the first one to score a goal. So much so that he was the first goal scorer in four straight games. I’m so proud of him look at him go. Go look at all his goals they’re all so beautiful.

20. Dmitry Orlov’s hit on Smith (4/5/17 vs NYR)

The Rangers looked like they were getting a breakaway, but Orlov stopped that real quick with a big thump. Not nearly as devastating as some of his other hits, this was still pretty fun to watch.

19. Alex Ovechkin goes on a warpath and hits 4 leafs (4/4/17 at TOR)

I don’t know exactly what got into Ovi this game; maybe he had a premonition we’d face the leafs in the first round and decided to send a message. Either way, Ovi was a man on a mission: he delivered two checks to Zaitsev, a thump to Kadri, and absolutely crushed Brown. It was a delight.

18. Jay Beagle goal against Detroit (11/18/16 vs DET)

In a game during which the Caps lost Oshie, Burakovsky, and Eller to injury and the Caps were rotating 9 forwards, we were saved by Jay Beagle yet again. After a tense affair, salvation came very late in the game when Beagle shoveled home the game’s only goal (on his knees), and got a bear hug from Tom Wilson as a reward.

17. TJ Oshie poppin’ bottles (2/5/17 vs LAK)

It took everyone a minute to realize that not only had Oshie scored, but had knocked the top off the goalie’s water bottle. Visual of the year.

16. Brooks Orpik’s fight against Steve Ott (2/18/17 at DET)

Brooks Orpik, in by far his best moment of the year, absolutely friggin pummeled Steve Ott, and it was awesome.

15. The amazing Ovi-Oshie-Nicky passing sequence (1/13/17 vs CHI)

The Caps put their passing on display during their long win streak with some fantastic puck movement from the top line. #BestLineinHockey

14. The Karl Alzner slapshot (feat. a Justin Williams breakaway) (1/1/17 vs OTT)

A Karl Alzner goal? A Karl Alzner goal. He doesn’t score much, but when he does, he does it with a bang. Literally. Starting with a great stretch pass from Carlson, a breakaway and scoring chance from Williams, a scrum and a pass by Oshie, and ultimately ending with the hardest slapshot I’ve ever seen from Karl Alzner that left me with the biggest look of shock on my face and left the players with nothing but smiles. Seriously, look at Alzner and Carlson.

13. Alex Ovechkin’s fake-slapshot to Matt Niskanen (1/15/17 vs PHI)

Ovi fooled the entire world when he didn’t take the slapshot but instead passed to Matt Niskanen, giving him an open net. Even my parents were in awe of this one. Ovi made this goalie look absolutely foolish and executed one of the best plays of the year.

12. Evgeny Kuznetsov’s ridiculous goal in Montreal (1/9/17 at MTL)

I do not exaggerate when I say that Kuzy saved my life with this goal. When I was watching this game I was having a crap day, and he scored to put the Caps up. What a beautiful classic Kuzy goal.

11. Tom Wilson’s fight against Brett Ritchie in Dallas (1/21/17 at DAL)

Who but Tom Wilson? Willy had himself a nice fight in Dallas. Actually, it wasn’t anywhere near Willy’s best right, but he still bloodied up this guy’s entire face and it was amazing. Not to mention this spurred a later Winnik fight and Beags considering getting into a fight to make it a whole line thing.

10. TJ Oshie’s shootout goal that wasn’t actually in the shootout (2/1/17 vs BOS)

Oh my LAWD. TJ Oshie, the master of the shootout, got a nice pass from Backstrom and a breakaway and forgot that it was regulation time and not the shootout. He made Tuukka Rask look absolutely silly and I cried ‘cause it was beautiful.

9. Philipp Grubauer’s ridiculous save against Tyler Seguin (1/21/17 at DAL)

Holy frickin cow Grubauer absolutely robbed Tyler Seguin in arguably the best save of the entire year. My jaw dropped so hard, Grubi saved my life with this save.

8. Jakub Vrana’s first NHL goal (12/9/16 at BUF)

Baby V scored his first ever goal in Buffalo on the power play. Jakub Vrana is such a cutie, and one of these days he’s going to be a goal-scoring machine. I was so happy when he got his first in the big leagues. To this date he still has yet to score a goal that’s not a power play goal.

7. Zach Sanford’s first NHL goal (2/11/17 vs ANA)

God bless our sweet young giraffe. I rooted for him so hard in his first stint, but he just couldn’t break through. Turns out he couldn’t have picked a better time to get that first career goal. He put the Caps up late in an incredibly exciting game, and I think I might have cried actual tears of joy. And now he’s gone. I miss him so so much and I hope the Blues are treating him well. He’s doing really well in St. Louis so I’m happy for him but I also miss him a lot.

6. Alex Ovechkin’s hat trick against the Wild (3/28/17 at MIN)

Ovi has scored a ridiculous amount of hat tricks in his career (17 + 1 in the playoffs), but this time he did something he’d never done before: he scored all three goals on the power play. So here he is, terrorizing Dubnyk yet again.

5. TJ Oshie’s hat trick against the Lightning (3/18/17 at TBL)

TJ Oshie scored two goals early and then threw an alley-oop shot to the empty net to finish the hat trick. It was his first official hat trick as a Cap (cause evidently playoff hat tricks don’t count in official stats).

4. Alex Ovechkin’s hat trick against the Blues (11/23/16 vs STL)

Ovi really loves to score hat tricks against the Blues. All three of these goals were absolutely beautiful, and it was the only hat trick of the year that happened at home, so it gets bonus points.

3. The Dmitry Orlov hit on Matt Duchene (10/18/16 vs COL)

I AM STILL NOT OVER THIS HIT. I WILL NEVER BE OVER THIS HIT. This is the best damn hit I have ever seen. Matt Duchene was fuckin launched into orbit. Matt Duchene is yet to have landed. Everytime I think about this hit I can’t stop smiling because it is THAT GOOD. I think about this hit every damn day of my life. When we played the Avs the second time I was more excited about seeing replays of this hit than I was about actually playing the Avs.

2. Nicklas Backstrom’s 500th assist (1/7/17 at OTT)

I have lots of love for Nicklas Backstrom, the light of my life. He got his 500th career assist, the most in Caps history (and also the first Cap to ever do that of course). He doesn’t get nearly enough recognition for what he does, but on this night he did. You can just see the glee on Ovi’s face. You go, Nick Backstrom. Let the NHL know why we love you so much.

1. Alex Ovechkin’s 1000th point (1/11/17 vs PIT)

Really, how could this not be number 1? I almost cried when I saw it was in the stars for Ovi to get his 1000th point at home against the Penguins. And he did it in under a minute. Holy cow I love Alex Ovechkin and it’s an honor to be watching a legend.

I know I didn’t get everything. I know I missed some pretty goals, some nice saves, some good hits and fights; I know there was one 4-minute PK we had at home that was really sweet that I missed. But we can’t have everything. And now, ladies and gents, we wait for the playoffs.