One of the most recurrent themes in Washington sports is having a fantastic regular season only to toss away the championship hopes in one of the first two rounds of the playoffs. This theme continued as both the top seeded Washington Capitals in the Metropolitan Division and the eight seed Washington Wizards fell behind early 2-0 in their respective series.

The Capitals were coming off a 49 win season to secure the one seed over their rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, by two games. As one of the Stanley Cup favorites, the Capitals hosted the four seed, the Columbus Blue Jackets. With high expectations and a stacked roster, the Caps looked to take a 2-0 lead before heading to Ohio for games three and four. However, Washington tossed their 2-0 lead in game one out the window as Columbus came back by scoring twice in the final period and once in overtime to secure the 1-0 win on the road. Washington hoped to bounce back in game two at home, but once again struggled defensively in a 5-4 overtime loss, as they fell 2-0 while heading into Columbus.

Meanwhile, looking to make up for the Capitals woes, the Washington Wizards headed into Toronto looking to knock off the top seeded Raptors in the Eastern Conference. Despite staying close throughout, the Raptors pulled it out behind a 23 point double-double from forward Serge Ibaka. Five costly turnovers by star point guard John Wall helped secure the Raptors win. Just a few nights later, the Wizards headed into game two with high hopes, only to be outplayed by all star guard Demar DeRozan, who put up 37 points to lead the Raptors to the 11 point victory.

With 0-2 deficits in both the Capitals and Wizards series’, many D.C. sports fans had pessimistic views on the odds.

“I thought there was no way we were gonna pull it out in either series,” sophomore Ethan Bacica said. The Caps headed into Columbus with little hope. After a long, hard, few hours, the game entered the second overtime tied up at two goals. Center Lars Eller knocked in the third goal to give the Caps a much needed victory to put the series at two to one. The Caps wrapped up their stint in Columbus with a dominant four to one victory to tie the series up at two games a piece. In a crucial game five back in Washington, the Caps once again scored the game winner in overtime to turn the tide and put all the pressure on Columbus as they faced elimination while on the road. Capitals icon Alex Ovechkin scored twice as the Caps offensive barrage could not be stopped, as they advanced to the second round behind a six goal finale to win the series four to two.

The Wizards needed a miracle on their home court to close the deficit in the series, and they got that in game three, as John Wall put up a game high of 28, and propelled the Wizards to a 122-103 victory. Looking to close out strong at home, John Wall put up 27 with 14 assists and shooting guard Bradley Beal scored 31 as Washington blew Toronto away to tie the series at two heading back north. The Wizards continued their struggles in Toronto, as DeMar Derozan scored 32 in game five and 16 in game six in easy Raptors wins as they finished out the series four to two and advanced to play Cleveland.

While the Capitals prevailed in the opening round and advanced to play their big rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Wizards failed to win a single of the four games played in Toronto, and gave themselves no chance to advance to the second round, letting yet another promising season fizzle out in the postseason. The Caps look to take home the first D.C. sports title since the Redskins in 1992, but still have a lot of work to do to get there.