Seventh heaven to Caps

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Alex Ovechkin scored early and Andre Burakovsky added two secondperiod goals to help the Washington Capitals put a decade of playoff frustration behind them with a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals last night.

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, a stretch of nearly eight periods.

Ovechkin, who had never played on a team that advanced beyond the second round, scored 1:02 into the winner-takeall showdown he had described as probably the “biggest game in my life.”

Nicklas Backstrom had an empty-netter to complete the rout.

To earn a spot in the Stanley Cup final, where they’ll play the Vegas Golden Knights, 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 in Ovechkin’s 13-year career.

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 injury, added a breakaway goal to make it 3-0 heading into the third.