Visting The Nation's Capital

A picture of Jaromir Jagr is always a good way to start a post

For those of you wondering why a picture of Jaromir Jagr is preceding this post, the answer is quite simple: The last time the Minnesota Wild won in the nation's capital, Jaromir Jagr was a member of the Washington Capitals.


And to add more to that, Alex Ovechkin was just 17 years old and was in his second season of playing for Moscow Dynamo in Russia. He was still three years away from the NHL (it would have been two, but a lockout prevented his arrival).

November 21, 2002 was the last night the Wild won in Washington. It may be 11 years, but the rarity of the teams playing in D.C. is rather unbelievable too. The teams have met just three (yes, you read that right. three) times since that Wild victory. All in the Ovechkin era, all victories for the Washington Capitals.

The drought in D.C. is not as glamorous as the losing streaks in Dallas or Vancouver, which came to a crashing end last year. But it is still one of note.

Tonight, the Wild go into Washington and will try and extend their winning streak on the season to four games and give them their first win in Washington since G.W. Bush was in his second year in the White House. The Caps have not gotten off to the best start, but they are coming off a blowout victory of the Islanders (a pretty good hockey team) after seeing Ovechkin return from a two game absence.

For your entertainment purposes, here is the boxscore from that win on November 21, 2002. A three point from Pascal Dupuis fueled the Wild win.


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