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Penguins assistant coach Sergei Gonchar can relate to Capitals’ Stanley Cup craze

Sergei Gonchar has seen pretty much everything during two-plus decades as a player and coach at the NHL level.

A total of 811 points in 1,301 regular-season games, plus 90 more in 141 postseason contests. Twice representing Russia at the Olympics. Multiple Stanley Cups — one as a player, two as a coach. And pretty much a wizard when it comes to broken-down defensemen.

One of hockey’s best offensive defensemen who spent the first half of his playing career in Washington, Gonchar also has a unique viewpoint into the frustrating existence of the Capitals in the postseason, starring on the only other team in franchise history to have made it this far.