Throwback Thursday: Washington Woes

By Giles Ferrell - November 21, 2018

Yeah, I get it. It is not Thursday. But since Thursday is a holiday, let's bump throwback Thursday up a day so we can cover it anyway.

Last Tuesday we so fondly recall the Minnesota Wild being absolutely crushed by the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals. Like, it was so bad the Wild were never actually in the hockey game. And to make it worse, it was a home game, where the Wild actually had a chance. Because in Washington, they can almost never find a W.

If you look into the history books of the Wild, you find their W-L record against Washington at MCI Center/Verizon Center/Capital One Arena to be an abysmal one. In fact, of a minimum 10 games played, the Wild's points percentage in Washington is the lowest of all of them.

All-time Record at Arena Table
Arena Name	Location	GP	W	L	T	OL	PTS	PTS% ▼	GF	GA	GF/G	GA/G
KeyBank Center	Buffalo, NY	11	9	2	0	0	18	.818	38	20	3.45	1.82
TD Garden	Boston, MA	11	8	3	0	0	16	.727	34	22	3.09	2.00
Gila River Arena	Glendale, AZ	25	15	8	1	1	32	.640	66	56	2.64	2.24
BB&T Center	Sunrise, FL	12	7	4	0	1	15	.625	36	27	3.00	2.25
Xcel Energy Center	Saint Paul, MN	688	378	210	28	72	856	.622	1932	1649	2.81	2.40
Rexall Place	Edmonton, AB	41	22	12	3	4	51	.622	105	91	2.56	2.22
United Center	Chicago, IL	36	19	15	1	1	40	.556	97	94	2.69	2.61
STAPLES Center	Los Angeles, CA	32	14	11	2	5	35	.547	78	84	2.44	2.63
Bell Centre	Montreal, QC	11	5	4	1	1	12	.545	31	32	2.82	2.91
Pepsi Center	Denver, CO	50	22	22	2	4	50	.500	122	142	2.44	2.84
Canadian Tire Centre	Ottawa, ON	10	4	4	0	2	10	.500	25	31	2.50	3.10
Scottrade Center	St. Louis, MO	36	13	15	3	5	34	.472	82	98	2.28	2.72
Rogers Arena	Vancouver, BC	44	16	19	3	6	41	.466	109	128	2.48	2.91
Amalie Arena	Tampa, FL	12	4	5	1	2	11	.458	25	30	2.08	2.50
Honda Center	Anaheim, CA	33	14	18	0	1	29	.439	77	85	2.33	2.58
Bridgestone Arena	Nashville, TN	36	13	18	2	3	31	.431	76	97	2.11	2.69
Bell MTS Place	Winnipeg, MB	13	5	7	0	1	11	.423	37	47	2.85	3.62
Scotiabank Saddledome	Calgary, AB	44	15	23	3	3	36	.409	95	108	2.16	2.45
SAP Center at San Jose	San Jose, CA	33	12	18	1	2	27	.409	76	98	2.30	2.97
Nationwide Arena	Columbus, OH	27	9	14	1	3	22	.407	55	71	2.04	2.63
American Airlines Center	Dallas, TX	35	9	18	1	7	26	.371	82	129	2.34	3.69
Scotiabank Arena	Toronto, ON	11	4	7	0	0	8	.364	22	33	2.00	3.00
Madison Square Garden (IV)	New York, NY	11	4	7	0	0	8	.364	30	34	2.73	3.09
Joe Louis Arena	Detroit, MI	28	8	17	1	2	19	.339	67	106	2.39	3.79
Wells Fargo Center	Philadelphia, PA	13	4	9	0	0	8	.308	20	37	1.54	2.85
Capital One Arena	Washington, DC	11	2	8	0	1	5	.227	17	31	1.55	2.82

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 11/21/2018.

The first-ever win for Minnesota in the nation's capital came back on Nov. 21, 2002 -- which was during team's famed season of making it all the way to the conference finals.

There is not much footage of the game out there, but we do get a couple of videos from the game via a pair of Matt Johnson and Alex Henry fights.

Why is this game being pointed out? Well first it is to show that winning in Washington is indeed possible even though Minnesota's next -- and only win since -- came 12 seasons later thanks to a pair of Jason Pominville goals.

Second, the roster on Washington is glorious from that game in 2002 and deserves to be recognized. This team did go onto the playoffs, by the way.

[caption id=attachment_44904" align="alignnone" width="1048] via hockey-reference.com[/caption]

Bondra, Gonchar, Jagr, Konowalchuk (it's just fun to spell) and Kolzig. Such a great team of names in rather suspect jerseys...

Anyway, don't let the glorious roster of Washington distract you from the fact Minnesota has won in D.C. just twice over the course of their 18 seasons. The Wild are set to play at Capital One Arena on March 22 to close out their head-to-head schedule.

via GIPHY

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By Giles Ferrell

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