Curses be damned. Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals were thought to be cursed when they headed into this playoffs. After all, they had failed to make it out of the second round of the playoffs in any of Ovechkin's previous 12 seasons in Washington, and no D.C. team had made a conference final since the '98 Caps. 

But they finally did it, and they even went through the Penguins to get there. So, when the Capitals took down the Lightning with a big Game 7 victory to clinch the Prince of Wales Trophy as Eastern Conference champs on Wednesday...why wouldn't Ovechkin touch the trophy? This Capitals team doesn't seem to be affected by "curses."

In hockey lore it's often considered bad luck to touch the trophy, as it's believed it hurts your chances of touching the Stanley Cup. But Sidney Crosby's Penguins have proved in recent years that it might be a bunch of nonsense. 

Crosby played it safe and didn't touch the trophy in 2008, then went on to lose the Stanley Cup Final against the Red Wings. The following year, Crosby decided to try a different route. He touched the Prince of Wales, and then he went on to win the Cup. He took the same route in each of the past two playoff runs. 

So, maybe Ovechkin learned a little something from his arch-rival in Crosby, who will finally be the one sitting at home watching Ovi pursue glory in the Cup Final this year. Or maybe, just maybe, Ovechkin just feeds off all this curse talk and wants it to keep on coming.

Either way, the Vegas Golden Knights won the West and touched the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, and I'm pretty sure both teams can't be cursed.