Happy 5-Year Cupiversary! A closer look at an iconic moment in Caps history

It's been five years. 

FIVE YEARS!    

Sometimes it seems like it was a desert mirage with how quickly the Caps have exited (or not even made) the playoffs since then.

But it was real because the internet says it was real!

A few years after the Caps won, I stumbled across this picture:

Obviously taken right after the horn sounded at the [justendalreadyletsgoclockdropthepuck] end of the third period. 

Notice anything? 

Let's take a closer look:

See it yet? No? 

Enhance:

Eller, Kuzy, Nisky and Willy are all going nuts! Nisky is probably jumping like that to deflect a Willy bear hug knowing he might be killed in a direct assault.

But that's not what I find interesting about this picture. I mean, sure, it's fucking awesome!

But there is something else:

Braden Holtby -- The Holtbeast -- still tracking that puck like a boss. Look at the very first picture, the non-cropped original, Reilly Smith has already given up. The Holtbeast, the dude who didn't flinch after Rich Peverly fake-chopped his stick at him, still has ice water running through his veins.

And then of course right after this, Holtby whipped his mask and gloves off like they had been plagued by fire ants.

It was indeed real, and it was spectacular.

Wear a damn mask!

 

Herndon man realizes leaning forward in his seat during a hockey game really doesn't offer that much of a better view

Leaners hinder the view of fans sitting behind them.

WASHINGTON: In the Washington Capitals home opener last night where they fell 3-2 in overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes, Todd Kobell, a 57-year-old Capitals fan from Herdon, Va., leaned forward in his seat for about 10 minutes into the first period.  Max Wedge, another Capitals fan sitting in the row behind Kobell, asked Kobell to lean back. 

Wedge reasoned, "I paid for these seats!  I don't deserve to have somebody blocking my view of the game!"

Disgruntled, Kobell leaned back in his seat.  After a few minutes, he realized sitting back six inches in his seat didn't hinder his observation much -- if at all -- from his view leaning forward in his seat.

"It was an eye opening experience," Kobell said.  "This guy tapped me on my shoulder and said I was blocking his view.  So I leaned back in the seat.  And you know what?  The game looked almost the same.  In fact, not entirely different at all.  I had tickets for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final when the Caps beat the Las Vegas Golden Knights.  I leaned forward the entire game.  I regret my transgressions for obstructing the game for the fans in the row behind me."

Asked for a comment after the game, Wedge said, "Leaners suck."

What's the Schmidtuation?

Two posts this year ... I'm on a roll.

Nate Schmidt's Mood States

12-year-old children never listen

Legendary handshake

Carlson and Ovi talk after USA-Russia game

How to avoid ice cheetah attack

Picture blatantly stolen from Clydeorama/Japersrink.

New terminology

Season ticket holders in our section have nicknamed the puck-over-the-glass delay-of-game penalty The Tom Poti penalty.  But like a younger Jedi being more powerful than an older Jedi, as Yoda would say, "There is another."

Reunited, and it feels so awkward