by Malec Fahmy ’20 and Brynn Smith ’19

 Although we are writing this column before we know the outcome of game 7 of the conference finals, it does not matter. Whether the Washington Capitals won or lost the game last night, the season already is a tremendous success and playing for a Stanley Cup is simply icing on the cake. Sure, the Caps may have squandered a 2-0 series lead against the Tampa Bay Lightning, before fending off elimination with a 3-0 victory in game 6. And maybe they won’t win the Stanley Cup this year, but it doesn’t matter—they beat their rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and ended the D.C. curse.

 The curse has loomed over Washington professional sports teams for the last 20 years: no team has reached their respective conference final. It has tortured fans for the last two decades, but the Caps put that curse to bed. More specifically pertaining to the Caps has been their troubles of getting past the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that has taken the Caps out in nine previous series they have met in. But with the Capitals’ 2-1 win in overtime against the Penguins in round two, game six of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they have finally succeeded in defeating their arch-rival.

 After a comeback win in Game 1 for the Penguins, Caps fans were more certain than not that this was the beginning of the end once again. The Caps would take three out of the next four games to force an elimination game 6 in Pittsburgh, and in a low-scoring game that went to overtime, Ovechkin watched as he passed the puck up the ice as Kuznetsov finished off the series with a brilliant goal through goalkeeper Murray’s five-hole. This was the goal that finally pushed the Caps to the Eastern Conference Finals while also breaking the-second round D.C. curse.

 Washington got over the hump without three of their best players, Andre Burakovsky (upper body), Nicklas Backstrom (hand), and Tom Wilson (suspension), for part or all of this series. In the absence of these players, superstars Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Braden Holtby all elevated their game to push past the Penguins in six games. With all players healthy, the Capitals have been a force to be reckoned with throughout the playoffs against the Lightning (and hopefully the Vegas Golden Knights).

 Although the Capitals may not get past the Lighting after winning the first two games away, fans and players can not let this diminish the fact that they broke the curse and made it to the conference finals. When Caps fans look back on this year, they will be proud that their team—who hadn’t made it past the second round in 20 years—advanced to the conference finals after not being projected to make the playoffs.