It was too little, too late for the Washington Capitals last night as they fought off a 3-0 deficit to force overtime in Game 6 of an elimination game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
However, it wasn't meant to be.
Once again the Capitals fell in the second round of the playoffs after one of the most successful regular seasons in NHL history.
This is the fifth time in nine years, the Capitals have been eliminated from the second round during the Ovechkin-era. It always seems to be the same old song and dance with a franchise that hasn't reached the Conference Finals since 1998.
Washington's comeback fueled the belief that this year could be different, and that we'd see the fruits of their labor finally erase the ghosts of playoffs past by getting over the elusive hump that has been a hindrance for a decade.
This one hurt just as much as it did last year when the Caps fell to the Rangers in a crushing overtime loss in Game 7 after being up 3 games to 1. Last nights comeback in the third period did nothing more than give hope to fans who were already shelling out hundreds of dollars in anticipation of Game 7 in Washington.
While the Capitals did not play well, they didn't play awful. The potential this team had going into the post season was overwhelming, but the disappearance of key players such Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom makes us wonder if next season will be just another disappointment.
The Caps have one more year left in the two window they gave themselves to go "all in" for a deep run. After next season several key contracts will need re-upping, including Karl Alzner, T.J. Oshie and Kuznetsov.
“I’m proud of my team, I’m proud of my teammates,… Alex Ovechkin said after the overtime loss. “We battled through. It doesn’t matter what happened, but in the end we lost in the second round, so it sucks.…
It will be an interesting off-season for the Caps, who will need to figuring out what went wrong once again. The lack of net-front presence from the loss of Troy Brouwer needs to be filled and the toughness that everyone thought they had also needs to be addressed.
As a die-hard fan, I'm crushed, and I honestly couldn't watch last night as the two teams went into overtime.
However, it is what it is and the Hockey Gods have spoken.
More to come...