Dominant Game 7 Performance the Sign of a New Era for the Washington Capitals?

Fair or not, the Washington Capitals have developed a reputation as a team that chokes when the games matter the most.

A team that won five division titles in six seasons between 2007 and 2013 flamed out in the first round three times and never advanced past the conference semifinals. The lowlight of the era came in 2009-10, when the Capitals led the NHL in points (121) and goal differential (plus-85) but were bounced in the first round by a dogged Montreal Canadiens team and a red-hot Jaroslav Halak.

The only thing that will change the team’s reputation is winning in the postseason. There’s still a long road ahead of the Caps in that regard, but Monday’s decisive Game 7 win over the New York Islanders was a good start.

It’s not just that Washington won the game; the Capitals have won in seven before, most recently in 2012 when they knocked off the then-defending champion Boston Bruins in the first round. It’s how they won. Washington was dominant early, dominant in the middle and dominant late, and it managed something no other team playing in Game 7 ever has:

The Capitals had an 11-3 lead in shots in the first period and a 10-4 lead in shots in the second frame. They went into shutdown mode in the third period and were largely successful; somehow, Frans Nielsen beat Braden Holtby with a weak shot in a one-on-three rush early in the third period, but other than that, the Islanders barely even got a look at the net.

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Incredibly, New York’s final shot of the game came at the 15:14 mark of the third period. It was an amazing defensive performance by Washington to close out the game; with first a power play and then an extra attacker and their season on the line, the Isles couldn’t even get a shot on net.

Some of the blame for that must fall on the shoulders of head coach Jack Capuano, who insanely waited until the power play had expired to pull his goalie, but even with that surprising help from the opposing coach, the Capitals must be given full credit for their effort.

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The win is particularly sweet because of who the opposition's goaltender was. Halak, who so embarrassed the Capitals in 2010, was quite good this time around for the Islanders, and particularly so when the series was on the line. In Games 6 and 7, Halak turned aside 62 of 65 shots against (0.954 save percentage), guiding the Isles to a Game 6 victory and holding them in Game 7 far longer than they deserved.

This time it wasn’t enough. Joel Ward gritted the 1-0 goal past Halak late in the second, and then midway through the third period, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a highlight-reel goal to give Washington the 2-1 win:

All of these are encouraging signs that the Capitals are ready to go on the deep playoff run the team hasn’t had during the Alex Ovechkin era.

They dominated for a full 60 minutes in a win-or-go-home situation. They overcame a hot opposition goaltender. They didn’t allow a weak goal against early in the third period to dispirit them; not only did they score, but after that goal, the Isles also managed just two shots, with the closest of them coming from 60 feet out. All of these are the sorts of things Stanley Cup champions do.

It gets harder from here, though.

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The New York Rangers will be Washington’s second-round opponents, the same Rangers that knocked the Capitals out of the playoffs in 2012 and 2013. The Islanders were a young team looking to win their first playoff series since 1993; the Rangers won the East last season.

Halak is a good goalie and a tough opponent; Henrik Lundqvist is better and tougher. Capuano helped indirectly by failing to pull his goalie at a critical moment and by scratching 25-goal man Anders Lee for the final two games of the series; Alain Vigneault is not likely to make the same mistakes.

There’s an opportunity here for Washington, under a new GM and a new head coach, to go on a deep run and put the playoff ghosts of the last decade firmly behind it. The Capitals have taken a good first step. There’s still a long way to go.

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com.

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.