It was a moment, an embrace, that was 11 years in the making.
There they were on the ice celebrating after Game 7 on Wednesday, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, the two players in Washington who had been through all the heartache and heartbreak together, all the Game 7 disappointments. They found each other. They wrapped their arms around each other.
If my lip reading skills are on point, it looked like Backstrom, staring at Ovechkin, told his longtime teammate, "One more, one more."
Indeed they have to win one more round to win the big prize, but arguably the two most important players in Capitals history, the powerful Russian who brought the franchise back and the super Swede who never gets enough credit, had their moment together after Game 7.
It was a moment 11 years in the making, since Backstrom joined Ovechkin in D.C., forming one of the best 1-2 combinations in the NHL. If all goes to plan, Ovechkin will pass off the Stanley Cup to Backstrom and the embrace will be even sweeter.