The Washington Capitals seem to be the only positive. They have a great group of young talented players, including the reigning MVP and admittedly the best player in the NHL in Alex Ovechkin. This young team has risen quickly and dominated the South East division this year. They learned from their first round game 7 playoff exit last year and are on their way to the second round this year. I've yet to see one of my teams win a championship, this is certainly the closest to doing so.

The Capitals beat the Rangers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Easter Conference Quarterfinals on April 28, 2009 to advance past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. It was an epic series which had the Capitals down 3 games to 1, and facing elimination. The Caps rolled off 3 straight wins to advance and broke the hearts of Ranger fans in the process.

The series was highlighted by Rangers Goalie Verne Lundqvist, who shut down the potent Capitals offense in the first two games of the series. The Caps rebounded in Game 3 in Madison Square Garden to make the series 2-1. Storming back the Caps game 7 performance had the sell-out crowd at the verizon center on edge as it was 1-1 with a few minutes left, looking like overtime was on the horizon. With about five minutes left Sergai Federov placed a wrister top shelf glove side on Lundqvist..the place erupted, the Caps were on their way to the second round.

This team has a lot of unique guys that provide some great quotes. One of the Washingon Post reporters does a great job following the team. A link to Dan Steinberg's "Sports Bog" is below.

| | | |