Evgeny Kuznetsov’s overtime goal against the Penguins in Game 6 of the 2018 playoffs still sits at the center of the Capitals’ first Stanley Cup run, and it’s easy to see why. One swing of the stick, one clean breakaway, and Washington was headed to the Eastern Conference Final with its championship path still alive.
If that play doesn’t connect, the whole story starts to wobble.
The Penguins were no ordinary opponent. They had won the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017, and plenty of fans believed they were capable of making it three in a row.
They had also been the kind of team that repeatedly gave Washington trouble in seven-game series. If Kuznetsov is stopped on that chance, or if Alex Ovechkin doesn’t make the pass that sprung him, the Capitals could have lost Game 6 - and maybe the series with it.
That’s the nightmare version for Washington. A missed breakaway, a different bounce, and maybe a completely different champion in 2018.
But there’s another side to it. The Capitals were playing some of the best hockey they had ever played, and the source of that belief is simple: they kept finding ways to win.
That showed up throughout the playoffs and again in the Stanley Cup Final, where they finished the job. Even if Kuznetsov hadn’t been the one to end that game, the sense was that someone else on that roster would have found a way.
Still, the what-if doesn’t stop there.
If the Penguins had somehow won that series, Washington might have taken a very different route in the offseason. And if that chain reaction had started, the Capitals could still be chasing their first Stanley Cup even now.
Ovechkin’s future is part of that same alternate path. Without that championship in 2018, he may have asked for a trade later in his career in search of his first ring.
It’s not the most likely outcome, but it’s one that can’t be ruled out. A version of Ovechkin in another sweater would have sounded strange, but the idea was never completely off the table.
Instead, Kuznetsov scored, the Capitals won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, and Ovechkin remained a lifelong Capital. Now Washington is positioned for another push after a slight retool, still chasing its second championship.
In Other News...
Former Red Wings Pick Anthony Mantha Is Still Chasing What Could Have Been
Anthony Manthas career has been a long reminder of how quickly a promising power forward can be pushed off course. Drafted by Detroit and once viewed as a player with real top-six upside, he has since moved through Washington and Vegas before rebuilding his value with a strong season in Pittsburgh, the kind of stretch that put his size, skill and finishing touch back on the radar.
The Devils are betting on that rebound with a two-year deal worth $9.5 million, and for Washington it is another chance to look back on a player who never quite settled into the role many expected when he arrived from the Red Wings. The talent has always been obvious, but so has the inconsistency, and Mantha now heads into his next stop with the same question that has followed him for years: how much more is still there if the health and production finally line up? [Read more 🡒]