Clay Stevenson waited a long time for this.
Stevenson signed with the Washington Capitals three years ago after a standout season at Dartmouth, but with Washington’s NHL goaltending tandem stable and with Hunter Shepard established as the starter for Hershey in the American Hockey League, Stevenson started out low on the depth chart.
The 26-year-old sat on the bench for the Capitals as the backup a handful of times, including during the 2023 opener when Darcy Kuemper’s wife had a baby the night before, but it wasn’t until Thursday night in Pittsburgh that Stevenson led Washington out of the tunnel as the starter in his NHL debut. Game 82 carried little meaning for either the Capitals or the Pittsburgh Penguins, with Washington readying for its Stanley Cup playoffs series against the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh headed to the offseason.
For Stevenson, though, it meant everything.
“My mom passed in 2019,” Stevenson said, fighting back tears, after the game. “She was a big driver for my hockey career. I could just kind of feel her out there. That was really special for me. Just felt really proud to be in this spot. That was the dream since we were really young.”
It was a difficult assignment for Stevenson’s first, as the Capitals dressed just five defensemen while Martin Fehervary, Matt Roy and John Carlson all took the night off ahead of the playoffs. The final score, a 5-2 win for Pittsburgh, does little to tell the story of Stevenson’s night. He was under duress throughout, faced 38 shots and made a handful of impressive saves.
“I thought he was fantastic all night,” Capitals Coach Spencer Carbery said. “Just laid it on the line for us, his teammates. First start, to be put in that situation and play in that game, I was really, really proud of the way that he fought and how he competed and how he played. He was fantastic.”
Stevenson’s dad, Ian, had advance notice to get to Pittsburgh and arrived Wednesday night, in time to take in both Thursday’s pregame skate and every second of his son’s debut a few hours later.
“It’s a childhood dream actualized. It will definitely be a fun moment for me,” Stevenson said Thursday morning. “My dad got to come in last night, so he’ll be here for the game. He definitely couldn’t be prouder, that’s for sure.”
Captain Alex Ovechkin, always the first player onto the ice for warmups after the goalie, waited at the end of the bench to let Stevenson have the traditional rookie solo lap. And when the puck dropped, it didn’t take the Penguins long to put Stevenson to the test.
His first career save was on a long-range deflection by Sam Poulin, who tipped a dump-in attempt. His second? A pad save on Sidney Crosby, all alone on the doorstep.
“Honestly, you don’t even know,” Stevenson said. “I’m just looking at the stick blades. I don’t even really know who’s out there backdoor. But it’s something special to make saves on players like that. It’s incredible.”
After Stevenson’s stop on Crosby, forward Connor McMichael gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead. He finished off a rebound on a shot from winger Tom Wilson as the two skated in on a two-on-one rush. Pittsburgh quickly answered with a rebound goal of its own; Bryan Rust fired home a rebound after Stevenson made the initial save on Ville Koivunen.
Stevenson stopped the next eight shots he faced, including an impressive rush stop and a save on Evgeni Malkin that drew gasps from the crowd. His first 20 minutes ended with his team tied, 1-1.
Rust and Crosby each scored top-shelf goals into narrow windows between Stevenson’s head and the post midway through the second period, and Crosby’s goal held up as the game-winner at the end of the night.
“I guess that just shows you what the NHL is, right? I thought I showed what I’m capable of out there,” Stevenson said. “It’s a special night. A lot of nerves, but I thought I played pretty free out there and gave myself the best opportunity to make the saves in the net. They were executing on a lot of plays, and as they should. Look who’s on the other side of that line. I don’t think there’s anything to really hang my head about in that game.”
Ovechkin, unwilling to be outdone by Crosby in the final meeting of their 20th season as competitors, scored on the power play with 3:04 left in the second period to bring Washington within one. Center Dylan Strome set Ovechkin up for the goal from his office in the left faceoff circle, an assist that secured Strome the first point-per-game season of his career. With 29 goals and 53 assists, Strome racked up exactly 82 points in 82 games.
Early in the third period, Pittsburgh appeared to have scored for a 4-2 lead but Stevenson immediately protested that the goal shouldn’t count. It was called a goal on the ice, but after review, the officials determined that Koivunen had pushed the puck across the line with his hand while tangled with Stevenson.
A shorthanded breakaway for Danton Heinen, which was kicked off by an errant pass from Ovechkin, was the fourth goal Stevenson allowed. Philip Tomasino scored on a three-on-one rush just 15 seconds later to break the game open; there was little Stevenson could do on either goal.
“You can sit around and say, ‘Let’s pretend it’s a playoff game. Let’s pretend,’ but the reality is, it’s not,” center Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “We’re in two different situations. Would we have liked to play better? Sure. But now the playoffs are starting, and that’s the exciting part. We’ve played all season for this.”
Stevenson made his last two saves with under 20 seconds left, squeezing his pads together to keep a shot from Rickard Rakell from slipping through and gloving a weak wrister from Heinen as time expired.
In the dressing room after, center Nic Dowd took a moment to talk with Stevenson before heading to the shower. Though the game didn’t mean anything to the Capitals as a team, they knew what it meant to Stevenson.
“This is a dream come true to me,” Stevenson said. “Win or lose, these guys made it a really special night for me. It’s something special.”
