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WASHINGTON (AP) Nicklas Backstrom dreamed about the road less traveled.Driving down Constitution Avenue on his way to each home game since his NHL debut in 2007 Montreal Canadiens T-Shirts Authentic , he imagined the street lined with overjoyed Washington Capitals fans.”It always popped up in my head that one time we’re going to have a parade here, and finally that day is here,” Backstrom said.It all becomes reality Tuesday when Backstrom and the Stanley Cup-champion Capitals give the city its first parade for a major pro sports team since the NFL’s Redskins in 1992. The parade is 26 years in the making for Washington sports fans who endured long, lean years of heartbreak.”I don’t think anyone doubted what this city would do,” longtime Nationals infielder Ryan Zimmerman said. ”It’s just a matter of getting there and having the ability to do it. They definitely held up their end of the bargain.”Tens of thousands gathered for viewing parties of road playoff games on the way to the Capitals’ first championship since beginning play in 1974. They camped out on the streets to watch on giant video screens – the kinds of scenes more germane to presidential inaugurations in this town than sporting events.”I thought it was really cool when we were even at home and everyone was outside and going nuts and they would show that right after we would score a goal,” defenseman John Carlson said. ”I think that was probably one of the coolest moments of the playoffs for me and just seeing the support. … I think we deserve it, and so do the fans.”It has been a long time coming. Since the Redskins won the Super Bowl in January 1992, the 1998 Capitals were the only Washington team in the NHL, NBA, NFL or Major League Baseball to reach a league semifinal until this spring, a drought of 74 combined seasons without a championship.When the Capitals took the Cup into the Nationals’ clubhouse on Saturday, coach Barry Trotz wanted players to know: ”There’s no curse or anything. It’s all gone.” All they had to do to know that was look around the past two months to see the doubt being chipped away.Nationals manager Davey Martinez, who texted with Trotz throughout the run, got his first real taste of Washington sports in the playoffs with the Chicago Cubs last year when he came out of the dugout seeing 50,000 fans in red and couldn’t hear himself think because it was so loud.”Right then and there I said Montreal Canadiens Hoodies Authentic , `Hey, these people, they’re in, they love it,”’ Martinez recalled. ”This is exciting. And the city then rallied this year around the Caps. I get it. It was awesome. It was good for the city. Good for us. I know our boys were all in, they were excited about everything. I told them yesterday, `Let’s just keep it rolling. The city’s all-in.”’Washington isn’t a city accustomed to being all-in because of the scars of so many playoff failures over the years. Longtime Capitals season-ticket holder Jimmy Patterson said fans became reluctant to get together to watch games because the mood at the end of the night wasn’t something anyone wanted to endure in a group setting.That’s part of what made the public gatherings for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final and throughout the Stanley Cup Final so remarkable. Exorcising franchise-long demons by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round seemed to free fans to actually enjoy themselves.”It showed what they were capable of and shows if you get to that level, they’re going to match it or even step it up a little bit more than the actual players,” Zimmerman said.Fans celebrating the Capitals beating the Penguins led ESPN’s Michael Wilbon – a former Washington Post columnist – to call D.C. a ”minor league sports town.” It’s not the first knock on Washington, though 14 years of playing baseball in the city has given Zimmerman some clarity on explaining that it’s not Boston, Chicago, New York or Philadelphia, and he doesn’t think it has to be.”This is such an interesting city because not many people are from here, so it’s hard to be a Boston or a Chicago,” Zimmerman said. ”That’s a generational sports town. So it’s nothing against (Washington). They shouldn’t be like that. They have no reason to be like that.”A lot of these people move here for work in their early to mid-20s or come here even later than that and they adopt a team. This is what happens nowadays: Everyone compares everything. Just let it be. Let it be what it is. We have great fans and obviously if you make the playoffs and get to a Stanley Cup finals Montreal Canadiens Hats Authentic , you have really great fans just like any city would.”Thousands of fans are expected to watch the parade, from 17th to 7th on Constitution. Trotz has been thinking about something like this since he arrived in 2014.”You start thinking about, `Well, what would it mean?’ and then you think about a possible parade on one of the most famous streets in all the world, really, and it’s sort of now coming into play,” Trotz said. ”It’s going to come true.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals— SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Zdeno Chara picked a great time to score a milestone goal.Chara scored his 200th NHL goal and added an assist to help the Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 7-3 on Saturday night and clinch a berth in the Eastern Conference playoffs.Earlier in the day, the Bruins announced the 42-year-old Chara signed a one-year, $2 million contract extension.The goal was his first since Feb. 18th at San Jose.“Anytime you reach a milestone it’s special,” Chara said. “I’m not one of those guys that’s going to score another 100. It’s a pretty decent number for a guy who wasn’t supposed to play the game. It’s a big win for us to clinch the playoffs.”Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand also had a goal and an assist, and Steve Kampfer, Karson Kuhlman and Noel Acciari had the other goals for Boston. Danton Heinen had two assists and Jaroslav Halak stopped 31 shots and also had an assist as the Bruins won their fourth straight.Chara is in his 13th season with Boston and 21st in the NHL. He is the second-oldest active NHL player, behind Pittsburgh’s Matt Cullen.“I don’t care how long you played. It feels good to score a goal Custom Montreal Canadiens Jerseys ,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We’re all happy for Z.”Vincent Trocheck, Mike Hoffman and Jayce Hawryluk scored for the Panthers, and Sam Montembeault finished with 32 saves.The Bruins took control with five goals in the second period.With Boston leading 2-1, Chara’s shot from the high slot beat Montembeault at 5:05. Kuhlman made it 4-1 as he grabbed the puck at the red line, skated in, and fired a shot in at 6:38 for his second career goal.Hoffman grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated in and fired the puck past Halak at 10:04 to pull Florida to 4-2.Kampfer and Pastrnak scored 48 seconds apart to stretch the Bruins’ lead to 6-2 with 3:24 to go in the middle period.“We beat ourselves, 24 turnovers, and their first four goals came off our sticks on turnovers,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “It was stupidity and bad turnovers that ended up in the back of our net.”Trocheck scored a power-play goal at 3:57 of the third to get the Panthers within three.Bergeron’s empty-netter with 26.8 left capped the scoring.“It’s one of those things where we know we have to be better and we know that’s not good enough especially against good teams,” Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said.Florida’s Aleksander Barkov landed face down on the ice after a collision with Chara with 3:04 left in the game but left under his own power.Acciari gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead 2:23 in. David Backes passed from behind the net to Acciari, who was alone in front and his shot got past Montembeault.Marchand doubled the lead when he took a feed from Bergeron from behind the net and shot the puck in from the low slot at 28 seconds of the second period.The Panthers answered 24 seconds later as Hawryluk one-timed the puck in from in front.NOTES: Chara is the 22nd defenseman in NHL history to score 200 goals. … Bruins D Connor Clifton recorded his first NHL point on Acciari’s goal. … Marchand has 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in his past 13 games. … The Bruins reached 100 points for the second straight season. … Yandle played his 900th NHL game.UP NEXTBruins: At Tampa Bay on Monday night.Panthers: At Toronto on Monday night.