PITTSBURGH — No confetti poured down from the rafters to mark the occasion. Maybe the Washington Capitals wouldn’t have celebrated that way if this happened at home, either. On paper, winning a second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series shouldn’t be a pop-the-corks moment.
But for this franchise, for the District, the context matters. No longer will that context be merely a chronicle of heart-wrenching losses in April and May.
For the first time since 1998, the Washington Capitals have advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. For the first time since 1998, a District sports team has made it out of the second round of the playoffs.