WASHINGTON -- Jimmy Patterson was a fresh-faced 22-year-old in the stands at the old Capital Centre in October 1974 when the expansion Washington Capitals won their first NHL game.
As he was leaving, an elderly man from Brooklyn told Patterson he'd always get to say he saw the Capitals' first victory. The man smiled and added, "You can't lose 'em all."
Forty-plus years, more than 3,000 games and 27 unsuccessful playoff runs later, Patterson and legions of longtime Capitals fans finally have a reason to believe that. Many who watched Wednesday night at an arena watch party far from Game 7 in Tampa Bay took to the steps of the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate the Capitals' first trip to the Stanley Cup Final since 1998. Game 1 in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights is Monday night.
"It's been really gratifying," said Patterson, now 65. "It feels a lot different, and it's a weird feeling."
Filling the area, fans chanted, "We want the Cup," "We want Vegas" and "DC! DC!" in an outpouring of joy decades and crushing losses in the making. Alex Ovechkin's Capitals are the first Washington team in the major four professional sports leagues to reach the final in a generation. To get this far, they had to not only outlast the Lightning but survive longtime playoff nemesis Pittsburgh, which has won the last two championships.
"It's been 20 long, dry years and we are back," Capitals public address announcer Wes Johnson said. "This is catharsis. Once we beat the Penguins, then you could see that the fan base was like, 'Let's just play hockey.' As John Walton said, it's OK to believe. It's not just OK to believe. Just believe."
Among markets with teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, only the Twin Cities in Minnesota has a longer championship drought going than Washington. The Redskins won their third Super Bowl title in January 1992 and it's been mostly grim since then. None of the Redskins, Wizards, Nationals and Capitals even reached a league semifinal from 1998 until this spring.
The Capitals got over the hump in their 10th playoff appearance after early exits marred by sudden-death overtime winners, a hot goaltender named Jaroslav Halak, the New York Rangers and -- of course -- the Penguins.
"It's just been one nightmare after another," said Anthony Beverina, who has had season tickets in section 417 since 1997-98. "And it makes you wonder if there's some inherent cosmic conspiracy or a core character issue in the core guys."
The nightmare has slowly felt like a dream on this playoff run, which was unexpected following an offseason of salary-cap casualties in the wake of another crushing second-round loss to Pittsburgh. Players rallied around lower preseason expectations, and even going into the playoffs Washington wasn't supposed to do this.
"There are people sitting in season-ticket-holder seats because they're home gnashing teeth and biting their fingernails," Patterson said. "A lot of fans around the country when their team is in the playoffs, they like to have get-togethers and parties, viewing parties for the away games and stuff like that. But if you've been through some of this stuff, after the second game of a playoff series, there won't be any of that because you can't have your friends over and watch a game and then have everybody in that awful mood when it's over and they're shaking hands and you're on the losing side."
It was the opposite Wednesday night when almost 10,000 people wearing red watched on video screens above a basketball court as Capitals players and coaches were on the winning side of their handshake line with the Lightning. Cheers greeted Ovechkin touching the Prince of Wales Trophy and then the flash of the Stanley Cup Final schedule before the series against former general manager George McPhee's Vegas Golden Knights begins.
"We're going to the Stanley Cup Final," Ovechkin said. "I think everybody is happy, but we still have unfinished ... you know what I mean. I don't know, I'm emotional right now. I think we've been waiting for this moment for a long time."
At a glance
NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL
Best-of-7, x-if necessary
All times Central
MONDAY’S GAME
Washington at Vegas, 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Washington at Vegas, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, JUNE 2
Vegas at Washington, 7 p.m.
MONDAY, JUNE 4
Vegas at Washington, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY, JUNE 7
x-Washington at Vegas, 7 p.m.
SUNDAY, JUNE 10
x-Vegas at Washington, 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13
x-Washington at Vegas, 7 p.m.
Sports on 05/25/2018