MSNBC shows a man at White House gate wearing a NB19 shirsey (Screen-capture by Ian Oland)

In the wake of the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed, people — particularly young people — gathered around the White House. Since game two of the Washington Capitals’ series with the Tampa Bay Lightning had just ended when the news broke, a good number of fans were in presence.

Here are the eery photos of Caps fans sharing the experience with each other.

Photos

President Barack Obama walks through the Cross Hall to the Blue Room to deliver OBL news to the nation, while a staffer in an Ovechkin jersey hangs in the background. (Photo by Jason Reed of Reuters)

General photo of the crowd via RMNB’s Chris Gordon.

Caps fan standing beside Geraldo Rivera. (via @pattymaryniak)

A man in an Ovechkin jersey stands by two members of the military just outside the White House gates. (Photo by Clydeorama)

A person wearing a Backstrom jersey holds an American flag atop a tree. (Photo by Clydeorama)

Caps fan sitting atop a statue. (Photo by Clydeorama)

Teamwork! A fan in an Ovechkin jersey gives a boost to a young man climbing a light post to hang an American flag. (via Jenn Rubenstein)

A fan – wearing one of the red foam hockey stick hats that the Caps gave out during the first round – attempts to hang said flag. (Via Jenn Rubenstein)

Photo of Caps fans Natasha Hashemi and Andrew McCeney by White House gate. (via @acjzone)

Guy in Nats hat and a person wearing Ovechkin jersey to the far right. (via @thinkprogress)

Fan in Ovi jersey and Caps hat at Lafeyette Park. (via @lindsapple)

Caps fan Quinlan Brennan (right) and a friend pose in front of the White House.

Jenn Wurzbacher poses after the crowd disperses.

A group poses a few blocks away from the White House. (Photo by Liz Elkind)

A Caps fans raises his arms to celebrate the news. (Photo credit: Liz Elkind)

Liz Elkind captures a Caps fan in the streets of DC amid the chaos.

CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry admits to being on TV with a Caps polo on.

Though the Russian Machine firmly believes that George McPhee and Bruce Boudreau are mostly to blame for this bad relationship – meaning they bought expensive goods they never really needed in the first place and then played “hardball” when it officially backfired – we’re happy to see the hard-headed Nyles still has some pride left in himself and wants to continue playing hockey while collecting a weekly paycheck most of us don’t make in a year.

Look we get it. The Caps proved they could play without Nylander in 2007-08 when he was out almost the entire season with a rotator cuff injury. And we also get that when Nylander was healthy, he had one of the worst plus minuses on the team. But George, why did you give him a no-trade clause? Can you or someone in the organization please explain that?

Now some of you may say, “Hey, we had to get arid of Nyles because he basically ignored what Bruce coached him to do.” Okay, maybe that’s fair. If you don’t get what I mean, check out the dry-erase board graphics below the jump:

Boudreau’s philosophy

Notice Bruce wants his players to attack.

Nyles’s philosophy

And Notice Nylander likes spinning in circles

Moving forward, you might be wondering what the Russian Machine is excited about now? Well, what we’re really looking forward to is the soap-opera-like press conference tomorrow with Capitals GM George McPhee in which he tries to completely throw the player he begged to sign here under the bus with a statement he already memorized 3 months ago. Oh man, can’t wait. Then it’ll be Nyles turn to rip the organization, and potentially air dirty laundry about Bruce Boudreau and how he mishandled him. Awesome.

Then the Capitals PR Staff can twitter about how unfair Nylander is being and defend Bruce Boudreau by saying “I wouldn’t question a former Jack Adams Winner,” which might I add is never really a good defense of anything. Yes, he’s a good coach, but even good coaches can make mistakes – like putting a rusty Mike Knuble on the first line after a three week layoff and irritating our second best player. (Yes, we saw Sasha cursing at Brooks Laich after Laich threw a play offsides by maybe 35 ft)

Then maybe – if we’re lucky – we’ll get a Ted’s Take post where Ted Leonsis tries to be fair to both sides and says “as an organization this is something we just had to do.” True, but it still doesn’t explain the no-trade clause.

So what does this all mean? Absolutely nothing for this year. The Capitals lost Chris Bourque because of the Nylander contract situation which I noted previously on another wonderful website, and then got him back from the Penguins earlier this week in a waiver claim. The real gain is next year and beyond where they need to resign restricted free agents Alex Semin and Niklas Backstrom. Both players are due hefty pay raises and will be a huge part of a potential Capitals Dynasty – well, if it ever happens.

So to recap, the fan in me is really excited about this like everybody else. Why? Because the stakes were very high. Realize the mortal people in our organization made a mighty big mistake, realized it, and fixed it. And it might have bought us enough Cap Space to win a Stanley Cup in the not so distant future. Давайте Праздновать!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!