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The Washington Capitals have waited nearly 44 years to raise the Stanley Cup for the first time.

Their only remaining obstacles are some desert-dwelling misfits who refuse to wait for anything.

The expansion Vegas Golden Knights are just four wins away from an astounding championship when they host Alex Ovechkin’s long-striving Caps on Monday night to open a thoroughly improbable Stanley Cup Final.

Even the players from the NHL’s last two teams standing seemed a bit surprised by their achievements when they gathered Sunday in balmy 84-degree Nevada weather.

”Who would have thunk it?” asked Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt , who played the previous four seasons for the Capitals. ”The Stanley Cup Final that was never meant to be, right?”

Indeed, a first-time NHL champ will be crowned next month after a Final between two teams that arrived at hockey’s ultimate destination from very different directions. While the Caps finally climbed over the hump in the Eastern Conference, the Golden Knights have been bulldozing every logical obstacle in their path since October.

”We’ve been able to do some things in the playoffs, but we never got to that last stage until now,” Washington forward T.J. Oshie said. ”And everybody knows what Vegas did in the first year is very special. We’re both hungry. This is going to be a beast of a series.”

The Golden Knights have exceeded every expectation by utilizing a rich expansion draft and multiple clever coaching moves to create a team that dominated the Pacific Division and then rampaged through the Western Conference playoffs. Their story still carries a ring of impossibility, but they’re close to adding a real ring to every hand in the dressing room full of self-described ”Golden Misfits,” as their T-shirts say.

The Capitals have repeatedly fallen short of their postseason goals during Ovechkin’s career, including a heartbreaking shutout loss to Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 7 of the second round against Pittsburgh last spring. After falling to Fleury’s champion Penguins in the past two postseasons, the Caps revamped their roster with youth and finally overcame years of playoff disappointment to reach their first Final in two decades. Of course, Fleury is in the way again – in goal for the Golden Knights.

Neither team was the favorite to get this far. Neither team is ready to stop now.

While Capitals coach Barry Trotz skated his now-customary hot lap before practice at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights had their usual standing room-only crowd for practice at their training complex in suburban Summerlin.

Their grip on this sports-hungry town was already strong, and the 24-hour gambling mecca will come to a standstill this week during the Cup games in the arena behind the New York New York hotel-casino and its 150-foot Statue of Liberty, which has been wearing a Golden Knights jersey since April.

Speaking of larger-than-life figures in hockey sweaters, this series showcases two major talents who can cement a legacy.

Ovechkin is a formidable scorer and competitor , but he has never won an Olympic medal with Russia or a Stanley Cup ring with the Caps. He’s keeping a sense of humor about this momentous trip: With a straight face Sunday, Ovechkin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had called him to wish him luck, before adding: ”I’m just joking.”

”We want to be here,” Ovechkin said. ”We work so hard all year. I don’t think nobody believes in us, and nobody believes in Vegas, and we’re right now in the Stanley Cup Finals, and we fight for a Cup. Come enjoy this moment.”

Fleury already has three Stanley Cup rings, but he has added another incredible act to his career with tenacious play for the Golden Knights, whose inexperienced pros have leaned on him to get through tough nights.

”I think it’s weird seeing that team here, being in the Cup the first year,” said Brooks Orpik, the only Washington player with a ring. ”Obviously, I’m not surprised (Fleury) is here. Without him, they weren’t beating us last year. He singlehandedly won a couple of games for (Pittsburgh) when we totally outplayed them.”

Here are more things to know about the ice hockey event in the Mojave:

COACHING CROWN

The winning coach also will raise the Stanley Cup for the first time in a fitting peak to two careers built on resilience. The 55-year-old Trotz never played in the NHL, but his 19th season as an NHL coach is ending in his first Cup Final. Gerard Gallant was a solid NHL forward for Detroit , but the 54-year-old bench boss had never even won a playoff round as an NHL coach before this spring.

(TURN)OVER KNIGHTS

Several Capitals pointed out the importance of minimizing turnovers against the Golden Knights, whose counterattacking acumen and team speed cause problems. ”They’re a very fast team and when you turn pucks over, they’re like a shark smelling blood in the water,” Oshie said. ”They all stop on a dime and want to take it the other way. That’s how they get a lot of their offense.”

CAPTAIN CHARGE

Ovechkin could become the first Russian captain to raise the Stanley Cup. If the Knights win, they don’t have a captain to raise the Cup first. Gallant and GM George McPhee decided to rely on a six-man leadership council instead. ”I think that’s the best decision we ever made,” Gallant said. ”Sure, there’s guys who could have been captain in our group, but it was their first year – and we really didn’t think we’d be grabbing the (Western Conference) trophy the The Tampa Bay Buccaneers insisted all along that they weren't overly concerned about having to open the season without suspended quarterback Jameis Winston.

That's because Ryan Fitzpatrick not only is an experienced backup who's one of just four players in NFL history to throw touchdown passes for seven different teams, but he has proven he can win games, too.

No one, however, could have anticipated him launching his 14th season quite the way he did, throwing for a career-best 417 yards and four TDs without an interception on the road to key a 48-40 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

Fitzpatrick also ran for a touchdown, improving to 3-1 as a starter since joining the Bucs before last season.

With Winston suspended for three games for violating the league's personal conduct policy, the 35-year-old with 120 starts will also lead Tampa Bay (1-0) the next two weeks against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

"He's a down-to-earth guy. He's got a great sense of humor. He's witty , he's intelligent, he's well-spoken. He backs up what he says with how he plays. The players respect him. He doesn't try to come on too strong, but at the same time he's a good leader," coach Dirk Koetter said Monday.

"When we talked, I think earlier in the year, about the difference between Jameis' leadership style and Fitz's leadership style, there's different ways to do it, and there's two good examples of it," Koetter added. "Both (are) good leaders, and we've had other good leaders step up so far."

Fitzpatrick entered the NFL in 2005 as a seventh-round draft pick of the St. Louis Rams. He's also played 鈥?and thrown TD passes 鈥?for the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans and New York Jets.

He signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent in May 2017, willingly accepting a role as backup to Winston, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft. He started three games a year ago , winning two, while Winston was sidelined with a shoulder injury.

"Fitz is comfortable being in there, he's not going to get rattled," Koetter said.

"After a guy (has) played a certain amount 鈥?I don't know what the cutoff is, but Fitz has played a lot. I think that experience of, 'OK, I know how fast the game is going to be. I know when I'm going to have to throw the ball away. I know when I'm going to have to eat it and take a hit. I know when it's time to scramble.'" Koetter added.

"I just think that best thing overall that Fitz is doing right now is when the play does break down, he's making good decisions with the football whether it be throwing it to a safe spot or becoming a runner."

Against the Saints, Fitzpatrick joined Mark Rypien as the only quarterbacks to throw for at least 400 yards with zero interceptions while also rushing for a touchdown in the same game. In addition to being 21 of 28 passing, including a pair of TDs of 50-plus yards, he targeted Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson 12 times, completing all of those throws.

"To hit them all 12 of those times is pretty unusual," Koetter said.

Evans finished with seven receptions for 147 yards and one touchdown. Jackson had five catches for 146 yards and two TDs.

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