
3. the washington capitals
Yes there was meant to be no capital letters in the header for this section. Just like we don’t drink Dunkin’ Doughnuts when we play Boston, we don’t ever capitalize washington capitals. Out of spite.
This rivalry is a no brainer, but by far the biggest one for the Canes. While caps fans were easily the second most loud and annoying fans during the drought, there is more to this.
The capitals have always been a good game for the Canes. And with being one of if not the closest NHL teams to Raleigh, it’s rather obvious to make them a rival. There have always been hard fought games, battling from both sides, and banter from both fan bases. But the playoffs of 2018-2019 changed the level of the rivalry.
It started with Tom Wilson simply being, Tom Wilson. He has always been a rather aggressive player but seemed to get a little too carried away, dirty if you will, that series. Then Ferland got ejected for a check that was 10 times less of a hit than Ovechkin had in game two.
And then, Ovechkin picked a fight with Andrei Svechnikov in game three. Easily Alex was worried that one day Andrei would be better than him, and we can’t blame him for assuming the truth.
https://twitter.com/NHLonNBCSports/status/1121464993998868480
But then, we got them. Mr. Game 7, AKA Justin Williams, gave the puck to Brock McGinn to score the game winner. This not only haunted the defending champs playoff run, but catapulted the Canes in to round two. And while it may still seem rather one sided on this rivalry, let’s recap why all of DC hates McGinn.
https://twitter.com/timandsid/status/1121235986631938048
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That’s right, the caps were inches away from taking the series. Brock Mcginn steps in to make the save and then seal the deal. So now, not only is there a bad taste in our mouths from the many years of being talked down to by caps fans (even after the Canes won a cup first) McGinn leaves them with the same taste.
Even now, the Canes and caps games are very highly anticipated with two more around the new year. The Canes are up 1-0 on the regular season series with the caps as of now. How will they respond to their biggest rivalry games coming up? Wins, that’s how.