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1998 Washington Capitals

Jasonthegreat

Registered User
Apr 19, 2015
74
1
When I looked at their roster, I was amazed to find the 97-98 Capitals had only one player that scored 20 goals (Peter Bondra with 52). Their second leading goal scorer was Adam Oates with "only" 18 goals. They weren't a totally strong team on either offense (13th in goals for) or defense (10th in goals against).

But the big question is, how did the Caps make the finals that year with a mediocre supporting cast around Bondra, Oates, and Olaf Kolzig?

Source: http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/WSH/1998.html
 
A very mediocre team that had a very good goalie, and a lucky/soft playoff schedule. The top 3 teams in the East were all upset in the first round, which created a perfect situation for a Cinderella team to get hot and walk through to the Finals.

Also had a bunch of average players get hot at the right time and provide surprising offensive contributions to create scoring depth where there hadn't been any previously - look at the contributions of Juneau/Bellows/Gonchar/Zednik/Nikolishin relative to what they brought during the regular season.

That playoffs was Gonchar's coming-out party as a high-end offensive NHL defender.
 
During that time period, it was pretty common for a Cinderella team to win the East, largely riding hot or great goaltending, then get stomped in the finals. 1998 Caps fit right in with the 1996 Panthers, 1999 Sabres, and 2002 Hurricanes. (1999 Sabres actually made a decent showing in the finals).
 
I started writing a longer response, but it looks like the main reasons have already been identified: great goaltending by Kolzig, some timely performances by Gonchar (mostly in the first two rounds), and surviving all the upsets that year, which resulted in a (relatively) easy path to the SC Finals. Joe Juneau also gets credit for stepping up (and scoring two overtime goals).
 
Based on their Conference opponents, the expected save percentage of an average goaltending performance would have been .907. The Capitals' win threshold was .925. Olaf Kolzig had a Conference save percentage of .946.

When your goaltender only allows 58% of what an average goaltender could be expected to let in, you're probably going to the Stanley Cup Finals.
 
1998 was one of those years, it was the year of the upset. Out west Colorado got it. Out east Philly, New Jersey and Pittburgh got it. The other series in the east was Boston and Washington and it came down to "someone" had to win that instead of Washington being so much better. In fact, Boston was the first team to lose a series (or a good chance of winning one at least) based on the crease rule. The Bruins had an overtime goal called back because a Bruins' foot was ever so slightly in the crease. This would have given them a 2-1 series lead, instead it was called back and Washington won it. What a joke. To this day I have never seen a coach so mad in my life as Pat Burns was after that goal was called back. Never.

So you have plenty of upsets, a rotten rule that may have cost a series and voila!

I don't remember a single person thinking Washington was going to beat Detroit. I don't remember predictions being so one-sided in a Cup final before. No one gave Washington a snowball's chance in hell. For good reason really. They were by far the inferior team.

On the plus side, Kolzig had a great postseason. This is where he really put his stamp on the game.
 
Big Phil said:
I don't remember a single person thinking Washington was going to beat Detroit. I don't remember predictions being so one-sided in a Cup final before. No one gave Washington a snowball's chance in hell. For good reason really. They were by far the inferior team.
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How about two years before? :)
 
Hockey Outsider said:
How about two years before? :)
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Thought of that immediately but the thing is, Florida had beaten Boston, Philly and Pittsburgh. The last two shocked the hockey world. I myself thought that this clock had to strike midnight when facing the Avalanche but I am not sure that it was quite as much of a consensus as when Washington faced Detroit.
 
Big Phil said:
Thought of that immediately but the thing is, Florida had beaten Boston, Philly and Pittsburgh. The last two shocked the hockey world. I myself thought that this clock had to strike midnight when facing the Avalanche but I am not sure that it was quite as much of a consensus as when Washington faced Detroit.
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Yeah, when Detroit went up 2-0, there was a real sense of, 'can we just end this now please'.
 
Hard to believe that 1998 was the 4th sweep in a Stanley Cup final in a row. Only time that has happened, and there's only been one since. I'd say that Caps team was the weakest of the 4 losing teams as well. I'd go:
1. '95 Wings

2. '97 Flyers
3. '96 Panthers

4. '98 Capitals
 
Sutter pours bourbon said:
Hard to believe that 1998 was the 4th sweep in a Stanley Cup final in a row. Only time that has happened, and there's only been one since. I'd say that Caps team was the weakest of the 4 losing teams as well. I'd go:
1. '95 Wings

2. '97 Flyers
3. '96 Panthers

4. '98 Capitals
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There have been none since 98, I thought? Only 2002, 2007 and 2014 have gone 5, even.
 
Ishdul said:
There have been none since 98, I thought? Only 2002, 2007 and 2014 have gone 5, even.
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Huh, I had to go back and look it up. I've thought 07 was a sweep for years now. That wasn't even that long ago... :help:

That is probably the only time you'll see me give the Ducks more credit than they deserve.
 
DisgruntledGoat said:
Yeah, when Detroit went up 2-0, there was a real sense of, 'can we just end this now please'.
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Yeah, it was the most anti-climactic final I can remember. Even when the Panthers made it, they were still facing a team that had never won and maybe Colorado chokes.

But against the defending champs, motivated to win it for Konstantinov, nobody for a second thought it would be any different. I remember people saying it would be a success if the Capitals won a game.
 
DisgruntledGoat said:
Yeah, when Detroit went up 2-0, there was a real sense of, 'can we just end this now please'.
Click to expand...

Ironically, in Game 2 Washington had the lead late in the game and there was this yawning cage for Esa Tikannen - who we all know is lights out in the playoffs - and he missed it. That puts Washington up two goals and they probably win the Game and go home with a split. As it was, Detroit tied it late then Draper (?) won it in overtime. Once that happened, yeah, it was lights out. Here is the missed net:

 
Wow, Tikkanen played on that team? I had no idea really. And what a crazy miss.

Ironically enough Bondra was kinda meh in those playoffs. Not necessarily bad, but the Caps rode on Kölzig, Gonchar, Oates & Juneau, and on teamwork, intangibles, defense and scoring-by-committee. Both Nikolishin and Bellows had more points than Bondra those playoffs.
 
Wow, that was a brutal miss by Tikkanen. What a playoff performer, though... love that guy.

That open net might be even worse than the one missed by... was it Hawgood, in the 1990 Boston/Edmonton Final, game one overtime?
 
The Caps had very good defense on paper!!. Johansson/housley/Gonchar/Tinordi ajd Jeff brown!!
 
The Panther said:
Wow, that was a brutal miss by Tikkanen. What a playoff performer, though... love that guy.

That open net might be even worse than the one missed by... was it Hawgood, in the 1990 Boston/Edmonton Final, game one overtime?
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Sutter pours bourbon said:
Hard to believe that 1998 was the 4th sweep in a Stanley Cup final in a row. Only time that has happened, and there's only been one since. I'd say that Caps team was the weakest of the 4 losing teams as well. I'd go:
1. '95 Wings

2. '97 Flyers
3. '96 Panthers

4. '98 Capitals
Click to expand...

And ironically, there hasn't been a sweep in the Stanley Cup final since then. BTW, the '95 Wings and '97 Flyers had parallels to how they were swept. Both teams were heavily favored to win their respective Stanley Cup finals ('95 Red Wings over Devils, '97 Flyers over Red Wings). Both teams were swept shockingly and embarrassingly out of the finals (Red Wings couldn't get past New Jersey's NZT, and the Flyers made a ton of mistakes against the Wings in '97 and weren't much of a defensive-minded team either). Of course, Florida had no chance against Colorado in '96; ditto for Washington in '98 against Detroit.
 
Big Phil said:
Ironically, in Game 2 Washington had the lead late in the game and there was this yawning cage for Esa Tikannen - who we all know is lights out in the playoffs - and he missed it. That puts Washington up two goals and they probably win the Game and go home with a split. As it was, Detroit tied it late then Draper (?) won it in overtime. Once that happened, yeah, it was lights out. Here is the missed net:

Click to expand...


Amazing how Tikkanen had such an easy scoring and shot it wide. For instance, the commentators on both ESPN and CBC couldn't believe.

Gary Thorne (ESPN): "AND HE MISSED THE NET! Esa Tikkanen BLEW IT!"

Bob Cole (CBC): "Missed the open net! What is going on in this period?"

The Tikkanen miss really seemed the give the Red Wings all the momentum in the world.
 
The Panther said:
Ha, ha... Glen Wesley it was. Poor guy... great player, though!
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That is how he will forever be remembered here in Boston.

I have always wondered how that series would have turned out had Wesley scored that goal. Would Edmonton have only gone on to win the series in six games? Would the Bruins have found a way to outlast the Oilers?

The only thing I know for sure is that losing that first game sucked the life out of the Bruins. That they (the Bruins) won Game 3 always surprised me.
 
Brian Bellows actually called out Peter Bondra in the Finals, saying that "certain star players aren't delivering" or something like that. Funny, given that he wasn't on the team most the year, playing in Germany, then signed specifically for playoffs.

Another funny anecdote that that was the season of Fedorov's holdout, during which he was rumored to be traded to the Capitals for Bondra and Gonchar. Fortunately that never happened... Well, until 2007 that is :)
 
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