Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) The stars are aligned tonight.
Those stars have taken a beating in recent decades – blowouts, near-misses, complete breakdowns – but tonight, the Capitals, Wizards, and Nationals all come together to prove that maybe D.C. isn’t the cursed sports town the rest of the country sees.
The Capitals can prove two things in one game if they win tonight’s winner-take-all game seven: First, it can vanquish their longtime nemesis in the Penguins, who have had the Caps’ number over the past decade. But more importantly, the Capitals would advance to their first conference final since 1998 (that’s the last time ANY of D.C.’s sports teams made a conference final). The Caps reached the playoffs in twelve seasons since, but did not advance beyond the conference semifinals in any of those twelve appearances.
“It has the potential to be the biggest day in D.C. sports history in the last, maybe, 27 years,” Washington Post Sports Columnist Tom Boswell told WMAL. “There hasn’t been a title here since 1991, and there’s a feeling here that we’re jinxed. By the time the Caps and Wiz finish playing, that sense could be dramatically different.”
Boswell sees both teams as the better ones in their respective series, the Caps so much so that he finds them to be Stanley Cup favorites if they can get rid of the pesky Penguins. The Wizards may not be the best team in the NBA playoffs, but Boswell said they certainly look better than Boston and would give LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers a run for their money in the Eastern Conference Finals.
And don’t forget about the Nationals. It’s still relatively early in the long haul of a baseball season, but there’s always added intrigue when they get together with their rivals to the north in the Orioles – especially when both teams look like leaders in their respective leagues.
“There’s no reason that this Nats team can’t have a really good season, and doing well against the Orioles this week is a step,” Boswell said.
D.C. may not have the sports-hungry reputation of a town like Boston, but Boswell said people here need to enjoy these times while they last.
“Right now you’ve got probably the best hockey team that exists. You’ve got one of the four or five of the best baseball teams that exists. You’ve got a rising, really exciting NBA team,” Boswell said. “You’ve got to enjoy the times when you have teams this good.”
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