The Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup with a 4-3 Game 5 victory Thursday night over the Vegas Golden Knights, marking not only their first title but also the first championship to one of the four major sports teams in the nation’s capital since 1992 when the Redskins won the Super Bowl.
By coincidence, they also won on the 40th anniversary of the city’s only basketball championship, when they were still the Bullets in 1978.
Of course, it was a big deal for first-time winners like Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby, but athletes from or who play in D.C. celebrated the Stanley Cup win as well. Washington Nationals’ slugger Bryce Harper is a Vegas native, so he was rooting for the new team in his hometown. But he was also among the many athletes congratulating the Caps, along with the other pro sports teams.