Washington Capitals fans mark your calendars, the newly crowned Stanley Cup champions will unveil their Stanley Cup banner on Oct. 3 in their season opener at Capital One Arena. That’s great and exciting news, but the NHL did the Capitals no favors beyond that.
The league announced the season openers for each of their 31 franchises, and beside the news of the banner dropping, Capitals fans are very disappointed on how the schedule starts. First, the season opener will be against the Boston Bruins.
It’s going to be a BANNER day at @CapitalOneArena ! Your 2018-19 Opening Night vs. Boston on October 3rd. #CapsBruins #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/Snq4BJRSd0
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) June 20, 2018
No disrespect to the famed franchise, but in these parts of the country, no franchise riles up locals more than the Pittsburgh Penguins. The same Penguins who eliminated the Capitals each of the prior two seasons before the Capitals dismissed their arch nemesis in the second round of this spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. The same Penguins team that when they won the first of their two back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 got to open their season and hung their banner in front of the Capitals.
What makes matters worse, the Penguins’ home opener this season, Oct. 4 — the following night after the Caps host the Bruins — will be against the Capitals!
Yes, that’s correct. The NHL continues to do favors for its beloved Penguins, even though the Capitals are the new reigning kings of the league. The winners are supposed to get the royal treatment, right? Instead, the Capitals will get the Bruins, who they have not faced in a postseason series since 2012. Then Washington will travel to their hated rivals home arena for their home opener the following night — the rivals they’ve faced each of the past three seasons, and the winner of that series has gone on to win the Stanley Cup.
The Capitals and their fans have waited 43 years for a Stanley Cup and through a lot of the recent years endured countless heartaches at the hands of the Penguins. The NHL forgot that history when it laid out the 2018-19 schedule, and hockey fans all over (except Pittsburgh) lose in their thoughtless decision, especially the Capitals fans.
The Capitals will also be the home-opening foe for the New Jersey Devils a week later Oct. 11 at the Prudential Center in Newark. While that’s not as careless as playing the Penguins in their home opener, it adds to the frustration. Hopefully, the Capitals can use the NHL’s baffling decision as motivation and get off to a great start on defending their Stanley Cup.
