The Penguins vs. Capitals blood feudmakes for high-quality hockey theater each year. It's become one of the NHL's greatest modern rivalries and arite of springtime in Pittsburgh and the nation's capital, even if history has overwhelminglyfavored theyinzers.By now, both sides know the score.Pittsburgh is the place the Capitals' Stanley Cup dreams frequently come to die a cruel, painful death, datingto their first postseason clash in 1991.The Pens are9-1 all time Jansen Harkins Jersey in their playoff series including 5-0 en route to each of the franchise's five Stanley Cups. Asix-game victory in the first round of 1994 has beenthe only reprieve for tortured Caps fans in their three decades of head-to-head suffering.Sporting News' and have observed from both sides of the fence since the early days of this heated rivalry. Here's how ourresident Penguins and Capitals supportersrank the memories they both dread and hold most dear from 1-10.GOLDEN STANDARD2018 Eastern Conference semifinalsThe Penguins struck first with Jake Guentzel's Game 1 winner, but Alex Ovechkin continues to show up(No. 8now has 31 points in 23career playoff games against his rival, including the Game 3 clincher)spotting theCapitals an early 2-1 series lead.But ifthere's onetakeaway from this article, it's that no one in D.C. will find comfort until that fourth win is sealed. Tom Wilson's antics what has promises to be a compelling chapter 11th chapterin this story.DeCourcy:How is this not all about Tom Wilson? Through the first 10 games of the playoffs, hed knocked three players out of the game with shots to the shoulder. The most laughable aspect of this is that the NHL actually has a department called Player Safety. It should be called, Keeping miscreants safe from responsibility for their actions. I dont understand why the office reacts to broken bones (Zach Aston-Reeses jaw) and not potential concu sions. Brandon Tanev Jersey Rank: 9Steele:Ohhh, Tom Wilson has taken this series over. Its embarra sing that the league completely let him slide after that Game 2 cheap shot, which, of course, would have prevented the po sibility of the Game 3 play. The notion among the Caps faithful is that this is why they got him, this is where hes useful, this is where hes most valuable. If they now lose this series, after the drama of winning Games 2 and 3 the way they did, Wilson will just join franchise lore as part of their postseason/Penguins curse. Itll be well-deserved, though, and it wont be a curse. Rank: 6MORE: Game 7, 2017 Eastern Conference semifinalsThe Capitals rallied back from a 3-1 series deficit, but couldnt overcome that omnipresentsense of impending disaster. It seemed there was nothing they could do in Game 7 to shake the tension. A 2-0 Marc-Andre Fleury shutout confirmed everyones predictions and Washington dropped to 4-11 all time in Game 7s (and 0-4 vs. the Pens).DeCourcy: The Fleury save he made against Ovechkin in 2009 was perhaps the greatest and most impactful play of his career. But the save that was most fun came with the Penguins holding a 1-0 lead with just under 4 minutes left in Game 7. Ovechkin got clear for a slapshot from between the circles, right where he likes and Fleury got the butt end of his stick over to cover the sliver of the net where the shot was headed; the puck deflected out of play. If that shot traveled anywhere else on the left side of the net, it would have tied the score. Fleury laughed and stroked the end of his stick. That was as close as the Caps came to beating him. Rank: 4Steele: Honestly, probably just because of the nature of the rivalry, Teppo Numminen Jersey I always think of that . It stoked the rivalry fires, naturally, although it really was just a series of unfortunate events. But this is 100 percent true: once the Caps went down 3-1, nobody really believed anymore, even when they fought back to a Game 7. Even the shutout seemed inevitable, because fans have seen that before, too. It was also one of those series where Ovechkin caught tons of blame, even Mark Scheifele Jersey though that shot late in the game wouldve been a goal 99 percent of the time. Rank: 5NHL DRAFT 2018:|Game 6, 2016 Eastern Conference semifinalsThe Capitals were a Presidents' Trophy-winning, 120-point juggernaut stripped down to their studs in the first four games as the Penguins opened a 3-1 series lead. Matt Murray stole Games 2 and 3 and the "HBK Line"made a name for itself. We saw three games decided in overtime, and none other than Nick Bonino played hero in Game 6, scoring the dagger that sealed the series.Bonino the goal! Bonino the goal! Bonino the goal! BONINO! Here are our favorite calls from the Game 6 OT tally. Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) DeCourcy: The most amazing thing about this series was the sequence of three consecutive delay-of-game penalties in the decisive Game 6. The Penguins were ahead 3-0 at one point, and still were up 3-2 when a series of errant clearances by Bonino, Chris Kunitz and Ian Cole led to two 5-on-3 power plays for the Caps. The second of those led to the game-tying goal by John Carlson. That Id never seen anything like that was le s profound than all the coaches and players, with lifetimes in the game, saying the same.I could say that just made the victory more dramatic, but Boninos goal was not the stuff of legend. He simply picked up the puck, which had bounced off Braden Holtbys pad and stopped in the crease, and scooped it in the net. The celebration was incredible, though. Rank: 3Steele: My most vivid memory of that series was Game 4, which seemed like the perfect microcosm of the rivalry and of the Caps postseason history. Brooks Orpik had gotten suspended for three games for a Game 2 hit, and the usual resulting chippine s continued in Game 4. The Caps made a mountain of terrible decisions in their end all night, still made it to overtime, then made a brutally bad turnover right in front of the Kyle Connor Jersey goal to give up the game-winner early in OT. Once again, with the Penguins up 3-1, their fate seemed sealed. The way Game 6 unfolded, then how they lost (again) in overtime its getting exhausting using inevitable when talking about this, but it keeps fitting. Rank: 2MORE: Game 7, 2009 Eastern Conference semifinalsMarc-Andre Fleury stonedAlex Ovechkin on a breakaway three minutes into Game 7, leaving Caps fans to wonder what might be different had No. 8 sent the Verizon Center into a frenzy.Instead, Sidney Crosby scored the games first goal and the Penguins went on to win 6-2.DeCourcy: Ovechkin was all alone on that shot. There was no def