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As checkered playoff histories go Jonathan Ogden Jersey , the Washington Capitals havenât been around nearly as long as some NHL teams. The track record was still long and sad.
There was Pat Lafontaine of the Islanders beating them in the four-overtime âEaster Epicâ back in 1987. Esa Tikkanen missing a wide-open net in the Stanley Cup Final loss to Detroit in 1998.
Heck, losing nine of 11 postseason meetings against the Pittsburgh Penguins alone is filled to the brim with gut-wrenching letdowns.
The puck finally bounced the right way for the Capitals, who built a 3-1 lead in the Final against Vegas after some rare postseason fortune and wrapped it up Thursday night in Game 5. Lars Ellerâs double-overtime winner off his right skate kept his team out of a 3-0 hole in the first round. Then came a cathartic, six-game elimination of the Penguins behind a patchwork lineup full of rookies.
Against the Golden Knights, Braden Holtby made the stick save of a lifetime to lock up a Game 2 win and opponent James Neal clanked a shot off the post in Game 4, staring at as much net as Tikkanen had 20 years ago.
Itâs as though all the bad breaks from the previous 42 seasons of Washington Capitals hockey are being erased â or at least somewhat forgotten â in a run that could deliver the franchiseâs first title.
âItâs like the franchise was star-struck,â said David Poile, who was Washingtonâs general manager from 1982-1995.
âTheyâve had all these really good teams, all of these opportunities that appeared that this could be the year that they could win playoff rounds and compete for the Cup or win the Stanley Cup. ⦠It just feels like â as Barry Trotz would say â the hockey gods have evened things out.â
Before this spring, the Capitals had made it past the second round of the playoffs just twice and reached the final once, when Tikkanen and Co. were swept by the Red Wings. Abe and Irene Pollin, the longtime owners of the Capitals and NBAâs Bullets/Wizards, had to learn how to handle losing.
âMy husband and I had developed a habit of when we lost Tim Brown Jersey , we would go to eat frozen custard to help us deal with the loss,â Irene Pollin recalled.
There were a lot of chances for custard: Teams leading 3-1 in a best-of-seven series have won 91 percent of the time (276-28). Of those 28, the Capitals have blown such a lead five times â the most of any team. There was no such falloff this time.
Winning just one game against the expansion Golden Knights already made this the most successful season in the history of a franchise that began in 1974-75. It was, by the way, the worst first-year team in NHL history (8-67-5) that developed into a team known for postseason failures â which only worsened in the Alex Ovechkin era.
For many of the players who have been through it all, the strong showing against Vegas was long overdue.
âIâm part of history. Iâm part of not winning a Cup here for a long time,â said longtime scoring winger Peter Bondra, who played for the Capitals from 1990-2004.
âI donât even play, but I feel like a part of this team, believe it or not. Itâs just something in it. Obviously, I play here for 14 years, I grew up here with the team as a player, my family grew up here.â
After missing the playoffs in their first eight seasons Donovan Smith Jersey , there was a âSave the Capsâ campaign in 1982 just to keep them around and in Washington.
âWe couldnât sell tickets,â said Irene Pollin, now 93. âWe went to Montreal to fight for the franchise, So for three days and three nights we were up and I was in a nightgown typing letters to the president and everybody to have them send letters to the league because they kept saying, `Washington is a southern city, itâll never be a hockey town.ââ
Abe Pollin that summer hired Poile as his general manager. When the 33-year-old executive asked for a three-year contract, Pollin agreed but only after telling Poile heâd better do well in the first season or the franchise might fold.
Less than two weeks later, Poile changed the course of the franchise by acquiring eventual Hall of Fame defenseman Rod Langway. Washington made the playoffs in all 13 seasons with Poile in charge but couldnât break through.
âWe had to play against some of the great teams ever in the NHL: We had to go against the Islanders who won four straight, the Rangers were always on the border, Pittsburgh when Mario (Lemieux) came in,â said Langway, who played 11 seasons for the Capitals. âWe challenged them, we competed with them Kam Chancellor Jersey , but we couldnât get over the hump.â
That became the Capitalsâ unwelcome hallmark. Plenty of times an improbable play ended a promising run, whether it was the Rangersâ Pierre Larouche beating Pete Peeters from a sharp angle in 1986 or Lafontaineâs shot through traffic for the Game 7 winner a year later early on Easter morning at the Capital Centre in nearby Landover, Maryland.
âTo me, that is sort of what happened, the epitome of what has happened to this franchise,â said winger-turned-broadcaster Craig Laughlin, who came to Washington in the Langway trade and never left. âWe didnât get those type of bounces. It seemed like every other team did but we didnât.â
That continued to Tikkanen in 1998 and into the âRock the Redâ era with Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. They lost in overtime of Game 7 in 2008 on a Flyers power play, in 2009 on home ice when the Penguins blew them out, in 2010 when Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak stopped 41 of 42 shots in Game 7, in 201
Not long after he was traded from the Steelers to the Raiders, wide receiver Martavis Bryant was the subject of a report that he could be suspended for another violation of the leagueâs substance-abuse policy. But as far as Bryant knows, heâs good to go for the start of training camp, and the season.
Thatâs the word from NFL Network Brandon Parker Jersey , which reports that Bryant is flying to Oakland now, will be at the first day of camp tomorrow, and hasnât heard anything about a looming suspension.
That doesnât necessarily mean the original report was wrong: When a player is a repeat offender like Bryant, the NFL has the discretion to suspend him for any slip-up. Itâs possible that Bryant did something that violates the letter of the rules in the NFL, but that the NFL has decided to soften its stance on substance abuse, particularly with marijuana offenders, and is going to let Bryant slide.
The Raiders gave the Steelers a third-round draft pick for Bryant, who is capable of being one of the leagueâs best big-play threats when heâs 100 percent focused on football. It appears that Bryant should be ready to play, with no off-field concerns.
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