Dialed In for the Long Stretch

And right down to this one last season-ending contest: win-and-in, lose-and-you're-out.

"This team has already played the equivalent of two playoff series. This was a Game 7 ," said owner Ted Leonsis, who blew kisses to the crowd with two minutes left to play. After a long brutal rebuilding process, which tore the Caps down to their foundations, Leonsis can now say of his fan support, "We've awoken a sleeping giant here. . . . I tried to give a UPS driver a $20 tip this morning and he gave it back."

Perhaps the most relieved man in Verizon Center was McPhee, the team architect whose future was on thin ice when this 135-day trek began. "It's tough to keep telling people to be patient, that there's a plan. . . . We looked for players who were talented, gritty, high character. . . . We can finally exhale. I've been telling people that some day we'd wake up and have a good team. I think that morning is tomorrow morning."

By every objective measure, that seems to be true, especially because, as Southeast Division champions, the Caps are suddenly a No. 3 seed with a first-round home-ice advantage.

Are the Caps now a team that has found its style, learned to maximize the abilities of its superstar and banded behind a balding humble and utterly authentic coach? Or, after such a sustained forced march, will they be out of gas in the playoffs?

For the moment, let that question pass. What the Capitals have accomplished deserves its own praise. In many arenas in many sports, the scoreboards play those sport-movie clips to get the crowd riled up. Every actor from Gene Hackman in "Hoosiers" to Al Pacino and Tom Cruise is invoked to scream and yell at some fantasy movie team. How ironic. No matter how decent the acting, it's all fake -- just Hollywood.

What Capitals fans have been watching since November, and especially in the last three amazing weeks, is the genuine article, the completely deserved and totally-real happy ending. After this victory, the Capitals lingered on the ice, taking in the cheers, preparing to give their game-used jerseys to winning fans in an end-of-season ritual. However, Boudreau was allowed the last word to the crowd.

"These are the coolest guys in the world," said the coach, who, fortunately, lacks an iota of cool in his entire sincere body. "We always believed, honest to God. Maybe nobody else did. But we did.

"In the playoffs, whoever we play is in for it. We're going to give 'em a tough battle."

After years of taking it, the Capitals may finally be ready to start dishing it out.