Alex Chiasson is having a week to remember.
The scrappy right winger scored twice Tuesday in the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
On Thursday, the seven-year pro who helped the Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup last spring, was presented with his championship ring during a ceremony in the visitor’s locker room.
“To put it on and see all the guys,” he said. “I was getting a little bit emotional. Those guys have had that feeling. I think they relived it through me. It was special.”
Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin said the team’s current western road trip has worked out perfectly, allowing him to present rings to a couple of former teammates who played vital roles in helping secure the Cup.
‘We all love him’
“It was kind of emotional for him, and for us as well,” Ovechkin said. “We all love him as a person. As a player, he was with us when we won the Cup. You know he was a part of it.”
Chiasson came to Edmonton on a tryout this summer without a contract, and signed as a free agent just before the season began in early October. After sitting out the first five games, he got into the lineup Saturday against Nashville and again on Tuesday, when he made the most of his 10 minutes on the ice.
The Capitals were in Vancouver on Monday, where they beat the Canucks 5-2. Before the game, the team held a similar ceremony for another former teammate, longtime Capital forward Jay Beagle, who now plays for the Canucks.
Alex Chiasson shows off his Stanley Cup bling after getting it in a closed door ceremony with his former Washington Capitals teammates. (Washington Capitals)
In the Stanley Cup final last spring the Capitals defeated the upstart Las Vegas Knights four games to one. It was the first championship in the team’s 44-year history.Ovechkin won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable players of the playoffs.
But the captain said that Cup victory wouldn’t have been possible without role players like Chiasson.
“We finally reached our goal to get a Cup,” he said. “But I think as soon as you taste it, you don’t want to let it go. You know, it’s something special, that feeling. A lot of emotions with the team, with our families, with the fans. That was something incredible.”
Seeing Chiasson come into the dressing room with shiny new ring put a smile on Milan Lucic’s face.
The Oilers veteran won his only Stanley Cup as a member of the 2011 Boston Bruins.
‘He’s played real well’
Having another player in the dressing room who knows what it takes to win can only help the Oilers, he said.
“You could see that little smirk, and smile and excitement in him that he finally received it,” said Lucic. “Yeah, you count on your top guys, your main guys, to steer the bus on where you want it to go. The role that Alex played on the Caps last year, he knows that it takes everyone in order to win.
“It helps immensely to bring that experience to this room. He’s had to sit and watch the first five games, but the last few games he’s been in he’s played real well for us.”
Oilers and Capitals play Thursday at Rogers Place. Game time is 7 p.m.