from Tom Gulitti of NHL.com,

The end to the Washington Capitals' reign as Stanley Cup champions came suddenly, but not unexpectedly.

At least not by the time they were deep into the second overtime with the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

The way the Hurricanes controlled play in both overtime periods, it felt inevitable they would score eventually. Brock McGinn finally did at 11:05 of the second overtime, redirecting Justin Williams' centering feed from the right corner to give Carolina an improbable 4-3 win in the game and the best-of-7 series.

The Hurricanes advance to face the New York Islanders in the second round, beginning Friday at Barclays Center. The Capitals go home for the summer, ending their repeat bid much earlier than they expected.

"It's kind of a situation where the season is over, and you understand that," Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin said. "We fight through 82 (regular-season) games and in Game 7, they score one goal and … you're disappointed. You're frustrated, especially after last year."

continued

from Harvey Valentine at NHL.com,

Brock McGinn scored 11:05 into the second overtime, and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals with a 4-3 win in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

The Hurricanes, who trailed 2-0 and 3-1 in this game and 2-0 in the best-of-7 series, advanced to the second round for the first time since 2009 and will play the New York Islanders.

"We got some huge goals by some big players, huge saves by Petr [Mrazek] when we needed them, a huge goal by Jordan [Staal] to start the third period," Carolina captain Justin Williams said. "We didn't give up. When it was 2-0, we told ourselves we wouldn't let it snowball like we did in the other games. We regrouped and stayed with it."

continued

Below, watch the game highlights.