A Look Back at the Capitals 1998 Eastern Conference Title

It wasn't aesthetically pleasing, but for a franchise that waited 24 years to play for the Stanley Cup, style points didn't matter.
So, when Joe Juneau finished off a goalmouth scramble by jamming a rebound past Buffalo's Dominik Hasek in Game 6 of the 1998 Eastern Conference Final, the celebration was on. Juneau's overtime winner, six minutes 24 seconds into the extra session, sealed a 3-2 victory and secured the Capitals' first conference title.

The team that couldn't get out of its own way during its first eight seasons, and later developed a reputation as playoff underachievers, had earned the right to compete for the most famous trophy in sports.
"You don't believe it at first," goaltender Olie Kolzig recalled. "You're waiting for something to happen - maybe for the goal to be overturned - but then it hits you and you're thinking, 'We're going to the Stanley Cup Final! We're going to the Stanley Cup Final!' That's all I could think of. It was crazy."
The 1997-98 Capitals surprised many on their way to the NHL's biggest stage. They entered the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, a year removed from missing the postseason altogether. But when the top three seeds - New Jersey, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia - were all upset in the first round, the Capitals suddenly found themselves as the top team in the East.
"A lot of times the playoffs are about getting the right match-ups," former general manager George McPhee said in 2017. "Maybe a few things fell into place for us that spring, but we had a good veteran team, we got a break in the first series with a disallowed go for the Boston Bruins in an eventual Capitals win] and we had outstanding goaltending."
After knocking off the Bruins in six games in Round 1, the Capitals made quick work of the eighth-seeded Ottawa Senators in five games in Round 2.
The Senators outshot the Capitals in all five games, but Kolzig was the difference. He allowed a total of three goals in Washington's four wins and stopped all 65 shots he faced in earning back-to-back shutouts in Games 4 and 5 to close out the series.
"That series I was probably more in the zone than at any point in my career," he said. "It's weird how that works as an athlete- you wish you could be in that zone all the time. But those two weeks, I was as locked in as ever. I remember [Game 4):*