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WASHINGTON (AP) Nine early playoff exits paved the way for the Capitals‘ unexpected Stanley Cup run and made the trip down Constitution Avenue all the more satisfying to the NHL champions and their fans.Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom rode the final bus down the mile-long parade route San Jose Sharks T-Shirts Womens , lifting the Cup to roaring cheers and waving to seas of red in the crowd.Five days after capturing the franchise’s first title and the first of any kind by a Washington team in the major four professional sports since 1992, this was their day to soak in winning following so much disappointment.”Because we waited so long, I think it feels even better,” Backstrom said.Hundreds of thousands of fans lined Constitution and filled the National Mall on Tuesday to celebrate a long journey fulfilled. One fan held up a sign reading, ”Worth the Wait,” but before the end of the rally, T.J. Oshie already had the crowd thinking about next season.”There’s been a lot of chants,” Oshie said. ”There’s been, ”Let’s Go Caps,” there’s been, ”We Want the Cup.” We’ve heard in the streets, ”We’ve got the Cup.” We’ve got a new one for you today – ”Back-to-back.”The serious work of getting geared up for the 2018-19 season begins in the coming days and weeks with decisions on coach Barry Trotz, defenseman John Carlson and other free agents. But for players such as Ovechkin and Backstrom who have been through eliminations at the hands of the Penguins, Rangers, Lightning, Canadiens and Flyers dating to 2008, the partying leading up to the parade isn’t close to ending.”It just started,” Backstrom said.Much like the Capitals did over the weekend by taking the Cup to local bars and restaurants, the parade was a chance to celebrate with a fan base that had to endure 42 seasons without a Cup.Fans congregated on the National Mall hours before the parade began, filled the steps of the National Archives and lined up 20 deep in some areas to catch a glimpse of players riding more than three dozen buses from 23rd Street to 7th.”Look at this – look at the people that’s here” Ovechkin said. ”We thought it was going to be crazy, but it’s basically nuts. You guys are killing it.”Ovechkin, Backstrom, veteran Brooks Orpik, owner Ted Leonsis and team president Dick Patrick took up the most prominent place in the parade on the last bus with the Stanley Cup. Chants of ”Ovi! Ovi!” alternated with pleas of ”Raise the Cup!” which Ovechkin, Backstrom and Orpik did off and on while sipping from beer bottles.Trotz threw beads from his double-decker bus, but the pending free agent coach saved potentially his most meaningful impact of the day for his speech at the rally.”I know our years of adversity has sort of came to an end,” Trotz said. ”We did this together and it feels so special. Love this, love the community. We’re going to do it again.”There’s no certainty about Trotz unless he signs a new contract, but the Capitals should have much of their core intact as they try to complete the difficult task of repeating. Before rival Pittsburgh went back-to-back in 2016 and 2017 San Jose Sharks Hoodies Womens , no team had done it since Detroit in 1997 and 1998.Of course, that didn’t stop players from bringing it up to the delight of the crowd that stretched down the Mall almost to the Washington Monument.”I couldn’t see the end of people from the stage,” winger Tom Wilson said. ”It’s unbelievable to give back the least we could and just celebrate with them.”Beyond the scripted – two high school marching bands, an F-16 flyover, Budweiser Clydesdales and past greats such as Olie Kolzig and Peter Bondra – backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer sprinted around with the D.C. flag, Oshie chugged a beer through his jersey and Ovechkin and fellow Russian Evgeny Kuznetsov dropped F-bombs on stage.Trotz invoked Martin Luther King Jr. by saying, ”We had a dream, and we did it.” Leonsis quoted John F. Kennedy’s ”Ask Not” speech. Wilson brought it back to the title by shouting, ”Everybody says what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but we brought the Cup home!”By the end of the sun-soaked rally, Capitals players swayed together and sang Queen’s ”We Are the Champions,” a song they’ve been belting out renditions of with varying sobriety over the past few days.”It’s been a long time since we had a championship here in this city,” Backstrom said. ”To be able to after all these years to bring it, it’s great. It’s a sports city. There’s not another city that deserves a championship more than D.C.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals— SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) Filip Forsberg’s apparent tying goal with 0.6 seconds left was disallowed due to goalie interference, giving the Florida Panthers a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.Viktor Arvidsson was posted in front of Florida goalie Roberto Luongo on the play, and his stick made contact with Luongo as he tried to shove in a rebound. The puck slid under Luongo in the crease, and Forsberg swooped in for an easy score. It was called a goal on the ice, but replay officials ruled that Arvidsson had interfered with Luongo.Luongo tied a season high with 45 saves, and Colton Sceviour and Jonathan Huberdeau each scored for Florida.Roman Josi scored for NHL-leading Nashville, and Pekka Rinne made 31 saves. The Predators would have clinched the Western Conference with a win.The Panthers are four points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference and five behind the New Jersey Devils with a game in hand.LIGHTNING 4, BRUINS 0TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves, Braydon Coburn and Ryan Callahan both had two assists during a three-goal second period, and Tampa Bay beat Boston to move into a tie for the Atlantic Division lead with the Bruins.Brayden Point, Victor Hedman, Chris Kunitz and J.T. Miller scored for the Lightning, who had lost four of five.Tampa Bay played without star center Steven Stamkos, who left Sunday’s game against Nashville in the second period with a lower-body injury. It hasn’t been announced if Stamkos will play in either of the Lightning’s final two regular-season games.Tuukka Rask stopped 32 shots for the Bruins San Jose Sharks Hats Womens , who had gone 5-0-4 over their previous nine games. Boston has three regular-season games left.JETS 5, CANADIENS 4, OTMONTREAL (AP) – Kyle Connor scored three minutes into overtime, Patrik Laine added his 44th goal and Winnipeg earned its 50th win of the season.Alex Galchenyuk forced overtime with a power-play goal at 18:18 of the third period.Sami Niku, with his first NHL goal, Nikolaj Ehlers and Jack Roslovic also scored for the Jets, who ended a four-game road trip. Winnipeg, which had already established a club record for wins in a season, has taken nine of its past 10 decisions.Artturi Lehkonen, Paul Byron and Kerby Rychel also scored for Montreal, which lost its third straight game.BLUE JACKETS 5, RED WINGS 4, OTCOLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Pierre Luc-Dubois scored in overtime to lift Columbus and keep its playoff plans on track.Artemi Panarin tied it for Columbus when he put back his own rebound late in the third period. That set the stage for Dubois’ shot from the slot 2:55 into the extra period.The Blue Jackets are trying to get to the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time in franchise history, and for most of the game it looked as if Detroit would put a crimp in their plans. Columbus had to rally from a 4-1 second-period deficit to get the two points and stay in third place in the Metropolitan Division with two games left.Cam Atkinson scored twice and Sonny Milano also had a goal for the Blue Jackets, who have won 13 of 15. Sergei Bobrovsky had 23 saves.Jimmy Howard had 36 saves and Tyler Bertuzzi had two goals for the Red Wings, who ended a three-game winning streak. Gustav Nyquist had a goal and an assist, Darren Helm also scored and Henrik Zetterberg had three assists for Detroit.GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, CANUCKS 4, SOVANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Shea Theodore scored in a shootout to lift Vegas in the final home game for Vancouver stars Daniel and Henrik Sedin.The Sedin twins announced Monday they planned to retire after Saturday’s season-ending game in Edmonton. During the third period, the brothers stood at the bench and waved to the crowd, who gave them a standing ovation. Vegas’ players banged their sticks on the ice.Theodore, the fourth Vegas shooter, scored on a backhand in a game the Knights almost let slip away.Bo Horvat, Brandon Sutter and Nikolay Goldobin, with his second of the night, scored goals 5:01 apart in the third period as the Canucks erased a three-goal deficit.Brandon Pirri led the Golden Knights with two goals in his first game of the season.ISLANDERS 5, FLYERS 4 Custom San Jose Sharks Jerseys , OTNEW YORK (AP) – Mathew Barzal had two goals and an assist, including the go-ahead score after New York gave up a three-goal lead in the third period, and the Islanders beat the playoff-chasing Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 on Tuesday night.John Tavares also scored twice and Anthony Beauvillier added a goal and two assists to help the Islanders get their third win in eight games, but just the fourth in their past 20 (4-12-4). Thomas Greiss stopped 27 shots.Nolan Patrick had two goals and an assist, Claude Giroux added a goal and an assist, and Wayne Simonds also scored for Philadelphia, which squandered a chance to move closer to clinching a playoff spot. Petr Mrazek finished with 32 saves while falling to 6-6-3 in 15 games since being acquired from Detroit.The Islanders appeared to take control with a three-goal second period to take a 4-1 lead, but the Flyers – who were 5-0-3 in their previous eight – tied it with three goals in a nine-minute stretch of the third.DEVILS 5, RANGERS 2NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Taylor Hall and rookie Will Butcher scored two goals apiece, and New Jersey moved to the brink of its first playoff berth since 2012.New Jersey moved within two points of ending its playoff drought by winning its third straight game and sixth in seven.Travis Zajac ignited a three-goal first period with a tap-in tally 25 seconds after the opening faceoff, and Keith Kinkaid made 22 saves in a game decided by the power play. Butcher, who had never scored more than once in a game, got both with the Devils enjoying an extra skater, while Hall scored his first on a power play and got his 39th of the season on a second-period penalty shot that easily beat Henrik Lundqvist.Ryan Spooner and Kevin Hayes scored for the Rangers, who will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2009-10 season. Lundqvist made 39 saves.STARS 4, SHARKS 2SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Jamie Benn stole the puck from Tomas Hertl and scored the go-ahead goal with 3:06 left before finishing a hat trick with an empty-netter.Mike McKenna, who replaced an injured Kari Lehtonen, got the victory after stopping all 17 shots he faced. McKenna last played in the NHL for the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 16, 2015.Gemel Smith scored with 5:17 left in the third period to tie it. Devon Shore won a battle along the boards and rushed the net, tapping it to Smith at the last second.Logan Couture set a career-high with his 33rd goal of the season and Timo Meier scored No. 20 for the Sharks, who lost their fourth straight.COYOTES 4, FLAMES 1CALGARY, Alberta (AP) – Kevin Connauton had a goal and an assist in continue his superb second half.Connauton has 10 goals in 30 games since the All-Star break, tying him with Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman for most among defenseman since Jan. 28. The 28-year-old had just one goal in the first 42 games this year.Richard Panik, Christian Fischer and Dylan Strome also scored for Arizona, which has won three in a row. Nick Shore got his first goal as a Flame. Injury-riddled Calgary has lost eight of nine.—