# 2008–09 Washington Capitals season

The 2008–09 Washington Capitals season was the team's 35th in the National Hockey League. The Capitals finished the regular season with a record of 50–24–8 and a team-record 108 points, and they won their second consecutive Southeast Division championship. They defeated the New York Rangers in the first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs 4–3, overcoming a 3–1 series deficit. The Capitals were then defeated by the eventual champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in seven games.

## Pre-season

Schedule/Results from capitals.nhl.com
| Opponent | Result | Score |
| @ Carolina Hurricanes | W | 4-1 |
| vs Carolina Hurricanes | W | 5-2 |
| @ Boston Bruins | W | 4-3 |
| @ New Jersey Devils | W | 3-2 |
| @ Philadelphia Flyers | L | 1-2 |
| vs Philadelphia Flyers | W | 5-1 |
| vs Boston Bruins | OTL | 4-5 |

## Regular season
### Division standings

Southeast Division :
| | | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | y – Washington Capitals | 82 | 50 | 24 | 8 | 272 | 245 | 108 |
| 2 | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 45 | 30 | 7 | 239 | 226 | 97 |
| 3 | Florida Panthers | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 234 | 231 | 93 |
| 4 | Atlanta Thrashers | 82 | 35 | 41 | 6 | 257 | 280 | 76 |
| 5 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 24 | 40 | 18 | 210 | 279 | 66 |

### Conference standings

Eastern Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | z – Boston Bruins | NE | 82 | 53 | 19 | 10 | 274 | 196 | 116 |
| 2 | y – Washington Capitals | SE | 82 | 50 | 24 | 8 | 272 | 245 | 108 |
| 3 | y – New Jersey Devils | AT | 82 | 51 | 27 | 4 | 244 | 209 | 106 |
| 4 | Pittsburgh Penguins | AT | 82 | 45 | 28 | 9 | 264 | 239 | 99 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Flyers | AT | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 264 | 238 | 99 |
| 6 | Carolina Hurricanes | SE | 82 | 45 | 30 | 7 | 239 | 226 | 97 |
| 7 | New York Rangers | AT | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 210 | 218 | 95 |
| 8 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 249 | 247 | 93 |
| 8.5 ||||||||||
| 9 | Florida Panthers | SE | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 234 | 231 | 93 |
| 10 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 82 | 41 | 32 | 9 | 250 | 234 | 91 |
| 11 | Ottawa Senators | NE | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 217 | 237 | 83 |
| 12 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NE | 82 | 34 | 35 | 13 | 250 | 293 | 81 |
| 13 | Atlanta Thrashers | SE | 82 | 35 | 41 | 6 | 257 | 280 | 76 |
| 14 | Tampa Bay Lightning | SE | 82 | 24 | 40 | 18 | 210 | 279 | 66 |
| 15 | New York Islanders | AT | 82 | 26 | 47 | 9 | 201 | 279 | 61 |
bold – qualified for playoffs, y – division winner, z – placed first in conference (and division)
AT – Atlantic Division, NE – Northeast Division, SE – Southeast Division

## Schedule and results

Full schedule, results, and recaps at capitals.nhl.com
* Green background indicates win. (2 points)
* Red indicates loss. (0 points)
* White background indicates overtime/shootout loss (1 point).
2008–09 Game log :
Schedule :

## Playoffs

The Washington Capitals won the Southeast Division and qualified for the playoffs for the second straight season. The Capitals would eventually win the first round against the New York Rangers, in seven games, after trailing the series 3–1 for their first playoff series victory since reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998. However, the Capitals would not get past the Pittsburgh Penguins and lost the series in seven games.
Key: Win Loss Clinch Playoff Series Eliminated from playoffs
2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 79 | 56 | 54 | 110 | +8 | 72 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 82 | 22 | 66 | 88 | +16 | 46 |
| Alexander Semin | 62 | 34 | 45 | 79 | +25 | 77 |
| Mike Green | 68 | 31 | 42 | 73 | +24 | 68 |
| Brooks Laich | 82 | 23 | 30 | 53 | -1 | 31 |
| Viktor Kozlov | 67 | 13 | 28 | 41 | -9 | 16 |
| Tomas Fleischmann | 73 | 19 | 18 | 37 | -3 | 20 |
| Sergei Fedorov | 52 | 11 | 22 | 33 | +4 | 50 |
| Michael Nylander | 72 | 9 | 24 | 33 | 0 | 32 |
| Eric Fehr | 61 | 12 | 13 | 25 | +8 | 22 |
| Dave Steckel | 76 | 8 | 11 | 19 | +2 | 34 |
| Boyd Gordon | 63 | 5 | 9 | 14 | -4 | 16 |
| Milan Jurcina | 79 | 3 | 11 | 14 | +1 | 68 |
| Tom Poti | 52 | 3 | 10 | 13 | +3 | 28 |
| Shaone Morrisonn | 72 | 3 | 10 | 13 | +4 | 77 |
| Jeff Schultz | 64 | 1 | 11 | 12 | +13 | 21 |
| Matt Bradley | 81 | 5 | 6 | 11 | -1 | 59 |
| Chris Clark | 32 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -3 | 32 |
| Keith Aucoin | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +5 | 4 |
| Tyler Sloan | 26 | 1 | 4 | 5 | +4 | 14 |
| Karl Alzner | 30 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 2 |
| Donald Brashear | 63 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -6 | 121 |
| John Erskine | 52 | 0 | 4 | 4 | +1 | 63 |
| Sami Lepisto | 7 | 0 | 4 | 4 | -3 | 6 |
| Bryan Helmer | 12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -1 | 2 |
| Brian Pothier | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Alexandre Giroux | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +4 | 10 |
| Chris Bourque | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Quintin Laing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 |
| Graham Mink | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Staffan Kronwall | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
| Andrew Gordon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jay Beagle | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 2 |
| Oskar Osala | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 14 | 11 | 10 | 21 | +10 | 8 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 14 | 3 | 12 | 15 | +3 | 8 |
| Alexander Semin | 14 | 5 | 9 | 14 | -1 | 16 |
| Mike Green | 14 | 1 | 8 | 9 | -5 | 12 |
| Sergei Fedorov | 14 | 1 | 7 | 8 | +1 | 12 |
| Tom Poti | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | +8 | 4 |
| Brooks Laich | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| Matt Bradley | 14 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +3 | 0 |
| Viktor Kozlov | 14 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +5 | 6 |
| Dave Steckel | 14 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Tomas Fleischmann | 14 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Boyd Gordon | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -1 | 4 |
| Brian Pothier | 13 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +1 | 8 |
| Milan Jurcina | 14 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +6 | 12 |
| Chris Clark | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 8 |
| John Erskine | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 16 |
| Shaone Morrisonn | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 8 |
| Tyler Sloan | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 |
| Donald Brashear | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Michael Nylander | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 |
| Eric Fehr | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 |
| Jeff Schultz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
| Jay Beagle | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | Min | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV | Sv% | SO |
| Jose Theodore | 57 | 3286 | 32 | 17 | 5 | 157 | 2.87 | 1572 | 1415 | .900 | 2 |
| Brent Johnson | 21 | 1131 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 53 | 2.81 | 579 | 526 | .908 | 0 |
| Semyon Varlamov | 6 | 328 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 2.37 | 159 | 146 | .918 | 0 |
| Michal Neuvirth | 5 | 219 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 3.00 | 102 | 91 | .892 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | Min | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV | Sv% | SO |
| Semyon Varlamov | 13 | 758 | 7 | 6 | 32 | 2.53 | 389 | 357 | .918 | 2 |
| Jose Theodore | 2 | 96 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3.72 | 33 | 27 | .818 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Capitals. Stats reflect time with the Capitals only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Awards and records
### Trophies and awards

* Alexander Ovechkin – Hart Memorial Trophy (Most Valuable Player)
* Alexander Ovechkin – Lester B. Pearson Award (Most Outstanding Player)
* Alexander Ovechkin – Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy: (56 goals)
* Alexander Ovechkin – Kharlamov Trophy
* Alexander Ovechkin – NHL First All-Star Team
* Mike Green – NHL First All-Star Team

### Stars

* Alexander Semin – NHL No. 1 Star of the Month (October 2008)
* Alex Ovechkin – NHL No. 1 Star of the Month (November 2008)
* Nicklas Backstrom – NHL No. 1 Star of the Week (Week Ending November 28, 2008)
* Alex Ovechkin – NHL No. 1 Star of the Week (Week Ending December 28, 2008)
* Mike Green – NHL No. 3 Star of the Week (Week Ending February 1, 2009)
* Mike Green – NHL No. 3 Star of the Week (Week Ending February 8, 2009)

### Records

* Mike Green – NHL-record 8-game goal-scoring streak by a defenseman

### Milestones

Regular season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Brent Johnson | 100th NHL win | October 13, 2008 |
| Sergei Fedorov | 1200th NHL game | October 16, 2008 |
| Milan Jurcina | 200th NHL game | October 16, 2008 |
| Tyler Sloan | 1st NHL game | October 21, 2008 |
| Sergei Fedorov | 474th NHL goal (most by a Russian-born player) | October 25, 2008 |
| Alexander Semin | 200th NHL game | October 25, 2008 |
| Tyler Sloan | 1st NHL goal | October 25, 2008 |
| Viktor Kozlov | 500th NHL point | November 14, 2008 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 100th NHL game | November 19, 2008 |
| Karl Alzner | 1st NHL game | November 26, 2008 |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 200th NHL goal | February 5, 2009 |
| Mike Green | 8-game goal-scoring streak by defenseman (NHL record) | February 14, 2009 |

## Transactions
### Trades

| June 20, 2008 | To Washington Capitals 1st-round pick (21st overall) in 2008 – Anton Gustafsson | To New Jersey Devils 1st-round pick (23rd overall) in 2008 – Tyler Cuma 2nd-round pick in 2008 – Patrice Cormier |
| June 20, 2008 | To Washington Capitals 1st-round pick in 2008 – John Carlson | To Philadelphia Flyers Steve Eminger 3rd-round pick in 2008 – Jacob DeSerres |

### Free agents

| Player | Former team | Contract terms |
| Jose Theodore, G | Colorado Avalanche | $9 million, 2 years |
| Player | New team |
| Cristobal Huet, G | Chicago Blackhawks |
| Matt Cooke, LW | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Olaf Kolzig, G | Tampa Bay Lightning |

### Claimed from waivers

| Player | Former team | Date claimed off waivers |
| Staffan Kronwall, D | Toronto Maple Leafs | February 6, 2009 |

## Draft picks

Washington 's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa, Ontario.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/junior/club team (league) |
| 1 | 21 (from New Jersey) | Anton Gustafsson | (C) | Sweden | Frölunda HC (Sweden Jr.) |
| 1 | 27 (from Philadelphia) | John Carlson | (D) | United States | Indiana Ice (USHL) |
| 2 | 57 (from San Jose) | Eric Mestery | (D) | Canada | Tri-City Americans (WHL) |
| 2 | 58 (from Philadelphia) | Dmitri Kugryshev | (RW) | Russia | CSKA Moscow (RSL) |
| 4 | 93 (from Los Angeles) | Braden Holtby | (G) | Canada | Saskatoon Blades (WHL) |
| 5 | 144 | Joel Broda | (C) | Canada | Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL) |
| 6 | 174 | Greg Burke | (LW) | United States | New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs (EJHL) |
| 7 | 204 | Stefan Della Rovere | (LW) | Canada | Barrie Colts (OHL) |