It’s finally happened (again)!!! The Washington Capitals have done it! They’ve proved the haters wrong as they beat the Tampa Bay Lighting 4-0 in a thrilling game 7 and now have advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals. The last time they were in this position was 1998.

Everyone knew what was at stake, win or go home. According to ESPN, Alexander Ovechkin even said before the game, “this is the biggest game of my life so far.” Ovechkin quickly put the Caps on the board as he scored less then 2 min into the game. The Lighting came close and had opportunities throughout the first period but couldn’t get the puck past Braden Holtby.  He stopped all of their shots and recorded his second straight playoff shutout. Throughout the game the Caps held the momentum by controlling the puck on offense and defense, limiting Tampa’s scoring chances and increasing their own. Andre Burakovsky made sure to capitalize on this as he scored twice on breakaway goals in the second period and increased their lead to 3-0.

The third period was more of the same as the Caps focused on defense and made sure Tampa would not score. They even got another goal from Nicklas Backstrom on a empty net to give them a 4-0 score and a win.

This was indeed the Caps biggest win of the season… Now, its on to the next stage and  a fight for the Cup.

Starting on Monday, the Washington Capitals will square off against the Vegas Golden Knights for a chance to bring home their first Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history.

Watch the live stream here: NBC Sports.