Washington Capitals: Top 10 rivalry games of all-time

#1 Exorcising the demons

The Pittsburgh Penguins have given the Washington Capitals fits in the playoffs for the longest time. But this time things were different. For just the second time in their franchise history, the Capitals took down the Penguins in the playoffs and boy was it glorious. This win helped pave the way to their first Stanley Cup.

After a scoreless first period the Caps would set the tone early in the second period. Nathan Walker fed Alex Chiasson for a goal to put the Caps up 1-0. The Penguins would tie it on a strike from Kris Letang but the Caps weren’t phased. A scoreless third would ensure the game would go to overtime.

In the extra period, Alex Ovechkin stole the puck from Sidney Crosby. He found Evgeny Kuznetsov up the ice and fed him the pass. Kuznetsov finished it and there it was. The Caps defeated the Penguins and advanced past the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.

This rivalry game was the best one of all. The Caps had finally taken down the Penguins and we knew this was going to catapult them to their first Stanley Cup. Sure enough, it did.