ARLINGTON, Va. — When the Washington Capitals selected the Russian winger Alex Ovechkin as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 draft, it was a consolation prize for having played miserable hockey.
In six years the Capitals had plummeted from a Stanley Cup finals appearance in 1998 to the bottom of the league.
More than 10 years later, it is not just star power that has brought the Capitals within striking distance of reaching the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in the Ovechkin era. Instead, it is a couple of baby-faced Europeans who have never played in the playoffs: Andre Burakovsky and Evgeny Kuznetsov.