Nic Dowd’s overtime winner made history for hockey players from the south

Washington Capitals forward Nic Dowd made history with his overtime winning goal in Game 1 against the Boston Bruins.

The 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs started with a huge boom on Saturday, May 15. In a heavily-anticipated Game 1, the Washington Capitals overcame the early loss of goaltender Vitek Vanecek due to injury to rally and win 3-2 in overtime thanks to some heroics from fourth-line center Nic Dowd.

Just how unlikely of a hero was Dowd for the Capitals? In his 15 previous Stanley Cup Playoff games, he had just one goal and one point. Dowd wasn’t even averaging a shot on goal per game in the playoffs, as he had 13 shots on goal in 15 games.

What makes Dowd an even more unlikely hero is where he’s from.

Capitals: Nic Dowd an unlikely hero

Hockey has struggled at times to catch on in the South, but players like Dowd are giving hope for players south of the Mason-Dixon line. Dowd is just the third player in NHL history from Alabama, joining Jared Ross and Aud Tuten. Tuten played back in the 1940s and it took nearly 70 years for another Alabama native (Ross) to play  in the NHL.

Combined, Tuten and Ross played in 52 NHL regular season games. Dowd has played in 307 regular season games. He’s also the first Alabama native to even play in a Stanley Cup Playoff game, accomplishing the feat back in 2019 when he made his postseason debut with the Capitals. He’s hoping to also become the first Alabama native to win the Stanley Cup.

Dowd serves as the fourth line center for the Capitals and is also an important penalty killer for them. Since joining them in the 2018 offseason, only Carl Hagelin and Lars Eller have averaged more time per game shorthanded. His 372 shorthanded minutes trail only Eller (444).

This season, Dowd set a career high with 11 goals, his first season with at least 10 goals. In 307 regular season games in his career, Dowd has 78 points. 52 of them have come in Washington. The Huntsville native has finally found a home in the NHL. Hopefully this leads to more players from the South falling in love with hockey.