The narrative for all Washington teams has been the same for 19 years. Coming ever so close to a conference championship but never being able to taste it. Last, the Washington Capitals were able to break the curse. And what better way to do it than beating the ultimate villain: the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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We have seen it time and time again with the Caps: golden opportunities for them on the offensive end, but never being able to scratch one across. Then, the Penguins get a cheap goal, and end up edging out the Capitals leaving all of D.C. sports fans in despair.

Game six in Pittsburgh seemed to be going exactly as planned. The first two periods provided flashy play and excellent chances for the Capitals and the Penguins escaped with a 1-1 draw into the third. I was sure we had another classic Capitals collapse coming.
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But for every historic curse breaking, there must be a change in narrative. In Game six, there was. Late in the third period, Pittsburgh began receiving glorious chances on the offensive end, yet they came up empty. After no scoring in the third period, they headed to overtime.
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It was near heartbreak, the Pens hit the right post, coming so close to a game seven. But with 14:35 to play in the overtime period Evgeny Kuznetsov got a breakaway chance and buried the puck through the five-hole of Penguins net minder Matt Murray. After 14 attempts to close out a series to advance to a Conference Final Washington sports has finally succeeded in the form of the Washington Capitals defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime fashion.

So rest easy, Capitals fans. The hardest part is over, right?