from Tom Gulitti of NHL.com,

The Capitals are in the conference final for the first time since 1998. Like most of his players, Trotz, 55, had never made it past the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So he as much as anyone understands what this means to forward Alex Ovechkin, center Nicklas Backstrom, defenseman John Carlson and the rest of the Capitals core. Ovechkin, 32, has been in the League for 13 seasons; like Trotz, he had repeatedly been reminded he'd never been to a conference final.

Thanks to a complete team effort capped by center Evgeny Kuznetsov's breakaway goal 5:27 into overtime Monday, that's no longer the case.

"I've been at this for a while and it's so hard to move forward sometimes," Trotz said. "It's always thrown in your face everywhere you turn. I know it's thrown in Ovi's face everywhere he turns and he's a great player in this league. … I knew the frustration because you're so close and you just can't get it. You've just got to stay with it."

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