This Date in Caps History - March 18

On March 18, 1977, the Capitals blanked the visiting Colorado Rockies by a 5-0 score. The win was Washington’s 20th of the season, exceeding the total number of games (19) the Caps won in their first two seasons combined. The Caps’ record stood at 20-39-14 at night’s end.

Caps center Guy Charron started the scoring against his former team, tallying against Rockies goalie Doug Favell with help from Bob Sirois and Bryan Watson at 11:18 of the first period. Hartland Monahan scored for the Caps at 15:47 of the same frame to push the Washington advantage to 2-0. Craig Patrick and Gerry Meehan picked up the helpers on the Monahan goal.

After a scoreless second, Patrick scored from Charron and Bill Riley at 3:05 of the third. At 9:43 of the third, Riley scored with Sirois and Charron collecting the assists. Bill Collins closed out the scoring at 16:58 of the third with Ace Bailey picking up the lone assist.

In addition to a goal and an assist, Riley collected 22 minutes in penalties in the third period, tying a club record held by three players including himself. Two games earlier, Riley had collected 22 minutes worth of third-period penalties in a game against Detroit.

Roger Crozier started in goal for the Caps, but could not finish. Ron Low played the last 20 minutes. Crozier made 20 saves and Low nine in the combined shutout.

Thirty-six years later, the Crozier-Low shutout is still one of only two in Caps history. Al Jensen and Pat Riggin combined on a whitewash of the New York Rangers on April 3, 1983.

Crozier collected the win, the last of the 206 he earned as an NHL goaltender. He had been obtained from Buffalo for cash two weeks earlier. Crozier went on to serve the Caps as an interim coach and an interim general manager; he remains the only man in franchise history to have played for, coached for and managed for the Capitals.