While the Capitals take a much needed day off Sunday before wrapping up their four game road trip in New Jersey on Tuesday, they might find some time in their schedule to watch the series 鈥淏illions鈥� as Caps’ players Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom are recognized for their stellar play in the upcoming season.
In an exchange between the show’s star Damien Lewis, who plays Bobby 鈥淎xe鈥� Axelrod and Sarah Stiles, who plays trader Bonnie Barella on the SHOWTIME series, the pair are mentioned as an example of two people who work together well to achieve a common goal.
The Caps’ two leading scorers for the defending Stanley Cup Champions have their names brought up in a heated exchange between Axelrod and Barella, as they discuss a colleague, Rudy, (Chris Carfizzi) who鈥檚 under-performing.
Here is Damien Lewis on last Tuesday鈥檚 episode of 鈥淭he Late Show With Stephen Colbert鈥�:
Axelrod: 鈥淒o you know why Ovi scores so much? Because Backstrom shares the puck.鈥�
Barella: 鈥淵eah, but when he does, Ovi goes bar down. This lame loses the puck between his legs or airmails it into the Godd*** glass.”
Axelrod: 鈥淪o I fire him, and you never f*** up again. Right, Rudy?鈥�
Rudy: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 right, Axe.鈥�
Axelrod: 鈥淎nd you signed your non-compete, didn鈥檛 you?鈥�
Rudy: 鈥淥f course.鈥�
Axelrod: 鈥淕ood. Rudy? You鈥檙e fired.鈥�
For the non-hockey fans out there, Axelrod is accusing Barella of not being a team player聽鈥� unlike Backstrom who has a career total of 639 goal assists to date. Barella is defending her selfish work style by saying Rudy is no Ovechkin and can’t be trusted to succeed if she sets him up, hence the “bars down” reference.
One of the 鈥淏illion鈥� writers, David Levien credits his kids with the assist for getting the reference into the show, as they are NHL fans. So that鈥檚 why the Caps got some love from SHOWTIME, but this isn鈥檛 the only time that 鈥淏illions鈥� has woven a hockey reference into it鈥檚 show.
It’s unlikely that hockey鈥檚 version of Batman and Robin, together since 2007, won鈥檛 be spending their off season reading scripts or doing table reads, but you never know what鈥檚 in store for them once they decide to hang up their skates.
