The Washington Capitals are going to the Eastern Conference Final. That's a sentence no one's been able to utter or write in 20 years. On Monday, the Capitals finally broke through to the third round against the Penguins. It's been 24 years since they've beaten them in the playoffs, and they've lost to them in 2016 and 2017. As someone who's been a Caps fan my entire life, seeing the breakthrough happen when Evgeny Kuznetsov scored an overtime goal to defeat the defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins was truly enthralling. It was a relief. It took 20 years, but the team finally got the monkey off it's back.
Some may say that it's too soon to declare the Capitals a winner. And it's true that there are still two more rounds of the playoffs to go if the team wants to win the Stanley Cup. But I'd argue that the take undersells how huge of a breakthrough this is. They've lost in the second round six straight times over the course of 20 years, and have lost six times in the first round in those 20 years. Playoff ineptitude and constant regime changes over those 20 years have made it hard for fans to have all that much hope. Coaches and general managers went in and out the door, and players were swapped out for other players. But losing early in the playoffs or not qualifying for them stayed constant.
Over the course of those years, the Caps developed a knack for losing to archenemies like the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers. The team's captain and face of the franchise, Alexander Ovechkin, always faced scrutiny for not being able to get past the second round. It became a fact that haunted the team for years. Analysts would always pick the Caps to reach the Stanley Cup Finals in the preseason and then be just as disappointing as Washington fans were at the end of the season when they inevitably collapsed.
But this year was somehow different. I personally believe that 2017 would be the Capitals last chance. They had tons of expiring contracts to re-sign and would lose a lot of depth that they wouldn't be able to re-sign in the offseason. Coach Barry Trotz also had to worry about his job every year if the Capitals somehow lost again, as did the players and GM Brian MacLellan. This was a weaker Capitals team than previous years, at least on paper.
But, somehow they finally proved me, their biggest fan, and the national media wrong. With young talent like Jakub Vrana, Nathan Walker, and Christian Djoos to add youth to a team that already had the core of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Oshie, Kuznetsov, and Holtby, they finally were able to do it. And the suffering ended on Monday once they punched a ticket to the third round.
Did the Capitals win the Stanley Cup yet? No. Did they even make it to the Finals? Not yet. But for fans of a franchise they were so loyal to and loved so much, to finally see the team come through and beat those hated Pittsburgh Penguins to break the curse and finally advance to the first round? It was a breath of fresh air. It felt like the first of many big steps forward and moments to come for a franchise that may have done something drastic in the offseason if it didn't work out. And for now, Capitals fans can rest easy until the third round starts on Friday and those playoff hockey nerves kick in again. But for now (and hopefully forever) the playoff curse is broken, and the District of Columbia can celebrate, hold their heads high, and rest easy for once. That's what I'm doing at least.
