Puppies Go Paw-To-Paw In The Caps Canine Playoffs: WATCH

WASHINGTON, DC — Four-legged furry chomp-ions went paw-to-paw in one of the cutest — and arguably the biggest — games in hockey Monday.

Days after the NFL regular season ended, puppies from Homeward Trails Animal Rescue participated in Caps Canine Puppy Playoffs, a slobbery, ruff-and-tumble hockey game between two teams of dogs.

Let me tell you: that 16-minute game was a nail-biter.

But before we dive in, let's take a look at the fetching lineup of athletes:

TEAM BLUE

• Mutt Niskanen
• Nicklas Barkstrom
• Lars Yeller
• Dmitry Furlov
• Braden Howltby

TEAM RED

• Alex Ofetchkin
• P.B. Oshie
• Evgeny Furnetsov
• Barks Orpik
• Pheonix Puppley

If you're not familiar with Caps Canine Puppy Playoffs, practically anything counts as a goal. Pups get a point if they run a stick, puck, or bone past the goalie.

Once the puck dropped, both teams swarmed in, causing quite the pile on. To be fair, there was peanut butter on the puck.

Howltby and Oshie battle it out for the puck before Niskanen, Ofetchkin, and Barkstrom join in on the action. Ofetchkin takes away the puck and scores in the first minutes of the game.

Yeller, from the Blue Team, wastes no time, scoring a goal and tying the game.

Things get a little ruff between players and the referee gives Ofetchkin a two-minute penalty for biting. The athlete had to sit in the kennelty box, which essentially is an orange dog cage full of Capitals swag.

The Blue team gets a chance to one-up the Red Team with a PAW-ER PLAY, but isn't successful.

Ofetchkin is back on the ice and makes a beeline for the net. It would have been a goal if Ofetchkin remembered to bring the puck.

In a dramatic turn of events, Oshie swipes Howltby's goalie mask and makes a run for it. Surprisingly, the referee lets it slide.

Oshie races back and forth, barreling into each team's net. It was hard to tell, but it looked like Oshie made about six goals.

Fans, and I, were confused: does running into the net with the goalie's mask count as a goal?

We would soon find out.

The referee makes the call: NO GOAL.

As the game progresses, tensions reach a boiling point as athletes on both teams nip at each other and the nets. Barkstrom gets a two-minute penalty for biting and Ofetchkin gets a two-minute penalty for ruffing.

Ofetchkin wastes no time once he's out of the kennelty box and scores another goal for the Red Team.

With minutes left in the game, the score is 2-1.

Puppley jumps in to try and steal, but Barkstrom doesn't want to let go of the bone. Ofetchkin tries to back up his goalie but both are overpowered by Barkstrom, who makes a goal.

Fast forwarding to the end (because, as you can tell, covering sports isn't my forte) the Red Team wins the game, 5-4.

Here's the goal summary from RMNB:

• 1-0 Alex Ofetchkin
• 1-1 Lars Yeller
• 2-1 Alex Ofetchkin (2)
• 2-2 Nicklas Barkstrom
• 3-2 Evgeny Furznetsov
• 3-3 Dmitry Furlov
• 4-3 Evgeny Furznetsov (2)
• 4-4 Mutt Niskanen
• 5-4 Evgeny Furznetsov (3)

You can check out the game below:

VIDEO: Washington Capitals/YouTube