Ottawa, for many years, had our number and simply dominated us. I remember one game in particular where they beat us 11 to 5 but it felt like a 100 to 1 win for them. They were that good. We couldn’t stop them or slow them down in any manner. They were deep and talented and confident. Our team of brand name players at that time couldn’t respond and wilted under their relentless pressure and system. Ottawa was just confident it could beat us - and they did - time after time.
Even though last season we had great success against them sweeping our series 4 to 0, it wasn’t until last night that I felt that the tables had turned; that they were chasing us; that we were the more confident team; and that we truly expected to win.
Confidence is truly an underestimated factor in success in sports. Overconfidence is dangerous and lacking confidence is a sign of trouble. Believe in your system, coach and each other. When a team exudes confidence, good things happen and wins start to mount up.
The weirdness that is Caps/Ottawa is just that, weird.
That same year when the Caps lost to Ottawa 11-5 at Verizon Center, the second time the two teams met, the result was 0-0. A scoreless tie. I believe it was the last scoreless tie in Caps history (and with the shootout, the last one ever).
There have been some other memorable moments in the matchups between the two teams. An 11-2 win by the Caps over at the old arena in the first year the Sens were around. The lady who had tickets next to me said “If Todd Krygier gets a hat trick, I’ll eat my hat.” Sure enough, he did, and I volunteered to get her some ketchup packets… She did pretend to take a bite out of the hat, then she went downstairs to toss the hat on the ice.
Then there was the playoffs in 1998… something about the Caps winning the second round 4-1 over Ottawa…
And then there was this time at Band Camp…
After Washington. Ottawa had always been a team I hoped to root for in the playoffs. They always seemed that they should go deep, but they always came up short.