TAMPA http://www.nashvillepredatorsteamshop.com/authentic-filip-forsberg-jersey , Fla. (AP) Alex Ovechkin lifted the Prince of Wales Trophy, spun around and set it back down on a table.The rest of the Capitals joined him for a team photo after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 on Wednesday night in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final, a victory that sent Washington to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years.A decade of playoff frustration is fading fast.”I think Ovie has been on a mission,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. ”They wanted this game, no question.”Ovechkin scored early and Andre Burakovsky added two second-period goals as the Caps continued to shed a label as postseason underachievers.Braden Holtby stopped 29 shots for his second straight shutout and the Lightning, who led the NHL in goals during the regular season, failed to score in the last 159 minutes, 27 seconds of the series – a stretch of nearly eight periods.Ovechkin, who had never advanced beyond the second round, scored 1:02 into the winner-take-all showdown he had described as probably the ”biggest game in my life.””The first goal was very important,” Ovechkin said. ”After that you could see we have all the momentum on our side. Holts was unstoppable today. He was special. Everybody was all in. Everybody was sacrificing their bodies. I think we all deserve the win.”To earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, where they’ll play the Vegas Golden Knights Juuse Saros Jersey , the Capitals beat the top-seeded Lightning three times on the road, improving to 8-2 away from home this postseason.It’s Washington’s first Cup Final appearance since 1998, and the first during Ovechkin’s 13-year career.”We played a great game,” defenseman John Carlson said. ”We deserved to win this.”Two games after being a healthy scratch for Game 5, Burakovsky became the 17th player to score a goal for Washington in the playoffs this year – four shy of the NHL record – when he beat Andrei Vasilevskiy on a breakaway at 8:59 of the second period.The winger, who played two games in the first round against Columbus before sitting out 10 straight with an upper-body injury, added a breakaway goal to make it 3-0 heading into the last period.Nicklas Backstrom had an empty-netter to complete the rout.”What a game. What an experience. We had a lot of guys pitching in,” winger T.J. Oshie said. ”The biggest guy of all had to be Holts. He played fantastic, back to back shutouts.”Tampa Bay, which rebounded from losing the first two games at home to win three straight for a 3-2 series lead, had plenty of chances. A couple of shots clanged off the post, Yanni Gourde was unable to get his stick on a loose puck in front on an empty net and the game gradually slipped away.Washington was the more physical team in evening the series with a bruising 3-0 victory in Game 6. They played with urgency from the start again Wednesday night and never let up.Tampa Bay’s last goal in the series came 33 seconds into the second period of Game 5 Kyle Turris Jersey , which the Lightning went on to win 3-2.”We’re here to win as team, no matter who gets the credit,” said Holtby, the fifth goalie to deliver a Game 7 shutout to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.”I felt we could have won every game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. ”We ran into a tough Washington team that was probably feeling the same thing, and once you get this far you’ve probably done some magical things on the way.”It was the 33rd time in league history that a Game 7 was required to determine a Stanley Cup finalist. Home teams are 21-12 in those games.Tampa Bay also played Game 7 in the Eastern Conference final in 2015, when they blanked the New York Rangers, and again two years ago, when they lost 2-1 to Pittsburgh.Both of those deciding games were on the road. The Lightning had never lost a Game 7 at home before Wednesday night.”It’s going to take a few days to digest this. It’s tough to sit here right now and think of positive things and how it was a pretty great season,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. ”It doesn’t seem that way when you have this group – and we’ve been to this position before – and you can’t find a way to give yourself a chance a win. We thought we had that group. It’s just an empty feeling right now.”Notes: Ovechkin and Backstrom made their 11th career Game 7 appearance, one shy of Boston’s Zdeno Chara for the most among active NHL players. In addition to Chara, only five other players in NHL history have appeared in more Game 7s: Patrick Roy (13) Youth Matt Irwin Jersey , Scott Stevens (13), Glenn Anderson (12), Ken Daneyko (12) and Stephane Yelle (12). … Evgeny Kuznetsov’s assist on Ovechkin’s early goal extended his points streak to 10 games. … Vasilevskiy made 19 saves. The Lightning outshot the Capitals (29-23) for the first time in the series.— PRO BASKETBALLSAN ANTONIO (AP) The wife of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has died. She was 67.The Spurs confirmed Erin Popovich’s death Wednesday. The team didn’t provide further details.”We mourn the loss of Erin,” Spurs general manager RC Buford said in a team statement. ”She was a strong, wonderful, kind, intelligent woman who provided love, support and humor to all of us.”The Popovichs have two children and two grandchildren. They met at the Air Force Academy in 1970s when he was an assistant coach for the Falcons. Erin’s father, Jim Conboy, was Air Force’s head athletic trainer.Gregg Popovich has coach San Antonio since 1996, leading the Spurs to five NBA titles. San Antonio will face Golden State on Thursday night in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.Popovich ran the Spurs’ practice Wednesday. They Warriors lead the series 2-0.OLYMPICSThe question sex-abuse victim Craig Maurizi would like to ask U.S. Olympic leaders is simple and searing: ”How can you sleep at night?”Every bit as perplexing: How to make sure this doesn’t happen again?The figure skater was one of four Olympic-sports athletes who testified to a Senate subcommittee Wednesday about abuse they suffered while training and competing under the purview of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the national sports organizations that controlled their Olympic dreams.Their testimony provided yet another reminder of the way leaders at the USOC, US Figure Skating Womens Mattias Ekholm Jersey , USA Gymnastics and other federations failed to protect them over a span of decades.At a USOC board meeting held later in the day, acting CEO Susanne Lyons outlined a six-part ”Athlete Action Safety Plan” the federation is developing as a response to the abuse cases.But the abuse victims, including Olympic gymnasts Jordyn Wieber and Jamie Dantzscher and speed skater Bridie Farrell , cast doubt on the USOC’s motivation to solve this problem.BOXINGLAS VEGAS (AP) – Nevada boxing regulators gave Canelo Alvarez a reduced penalty for doping violations Wednesday, potentially allowing him to return to the ring in September against Gennady Golovkin.Alvarez was given a six-month suspension instead of the standard one year for first-time violators. His May 5 fight with Golovkin was called off earlier because of the doping, but with the Nevada Athletic Commission suspension retroactive to February he would be available for a possible fight with Triple G on the traditional Mexican Independence Day weekend in September.Golovkin, meanwhile, announced Wednesday he would fight Vanes Martirosyan in Carson, California, on the May 5 date he was supposed to meet Alvarez.HOCKEYSAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Tomas Hertl scored the tiebreaking goal 9:09 into the third period, Martin Jones was spectacular in goal yet again P.K Subban Jersey , and the San Jose Sharks completed a first-round sweep of the rival Anaheim Ducks with a 2-1 victory in Game 4.Hertl scored just 1:16 after the Ducks finally got a puck past Jones when he deflected a point shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic past John Gibson. San Jose then held on to advance to the second round against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.Fourth-line winger Marcus Sorensen scored for the third straight game to open the scoring for San Jose and Jones did most of the rest of the work with 30 saves. He robbed Corey Perry several times and got help from a replay review that negated an apparent tying goal early in the third.SOCCERKINSHASA, Congo (AP) – FIFA Council member Constant Omari was arrested on suspicion of corruption and held for 24 hours in a public prosecutor’s office in his home country of Congo while being questioned for alleged involvement in embezzlement, officials said.Omari, who is also a vice president of the Confederation of African Football, was arrested on Tuesday night on the orders of Luzolo Bambi, Congo President Joseph Kabila’s special adviser on corruption, a statement from Bambi’s office said. Omari was released late Wednesday but was ordered to return for further questioning on Thursday, prosecutors said.Omari, the president of the Congo soccer federation, was arrested along with two other federation officials and a government sports ministry official. The three other officials were still being detained Wednesday at the public prosecutor’s office at a court building in Kinshasa.