After 44 years of waiting for Washington D.C., and 13 seasons for Alex Ovechkin, the Stanley Cup is finally theirs. The Washington Capitals are your 2018 Stanley Cup champions after storming back from a one-goal deficit in the third period Thursday night in Las Vegas to score twice and dump the Golden Knights, 4-3.

Washington, starved for a championship since the Washington Redskins won their last Super Bowl after the 1991 season, predictably went bonkers. And Ovechkin, a transcendent talent and the greatest goal-scorer of his generation, validated his legacy with an elusive Cup after so many years of playoff heartbreak.

The Caps got the scoring started in a frenetic five-goal second period when Jakub Vrana pumped in his third goal of the playoffs, but the Knights answered a little over three minutes later when Nate Schmidt scored off assists from Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault.

Ovechkin, who was announced as the the Conn Smythe Trophy winner after the win, put the Caps back on top less than a minute later when he snuck a power-play blast past Marc-Andre-Fleury off a Nicklas Backstrom assist.

The Golden Knights put the champagne on ice for a bit, however, after evening the score on a David Perron goal, then Smith closed out the scoring in the second period in the final minute with a wrister off the power play that put the Knights up, 3-2.

But the Comeback Caps would not be denied. Playoff hero Devante Smith-Pelly, who'd scored just seven goals in the regular season, scored his seventh goal of the postseason on a beautiful diving shot.

And Lars Eller scored the game-winner 12 minutes into the third period on a beautiful find off an assist from Brett Connolly.

For all the highlights from Thursday's game, check out the recap in our live blog. If the live blog isn't working, click here.

Series recap

Playoff bracket

CBSSports.com illustration by Mike Meredith



