The Washington Capitals fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday for the second time in as many days, this time giving up a 4-1 loss in their final regular-season game at home. Between Sunday’s defeat and a 7-0 rout in Columbus Saturday, the Caps allowed a total of 11 goals on 49 shots in the back-to-back and now have a record of 3-6-1 in their last 10 games.
“No concern at all, really,” Andrew Mangiapane said postgame. “We know we’re a good team. We’ve just got to be prepared to play Game 1. And we’ve got to use these last two games to ramp it up here, obviously. But I think we’re a mature group in here, and we know what needs to be done and how we need to play for Game 1…I don’t think anyone’s really panicking in here.”
The stakes are far lower than they were for last year’s Capitals — while the 2023-24 team needed until Game 82 to secure a playoff spot, this year’s squad had already won the Eastern Conference before the home-and-home against Columbus, giving the Caps plenty of breathing room as they close out their regular-season schedule. Alex Ovechkin sat out Saturday, and John Carlson did the same on Sunday, while the Blue Jackets needed wins to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Rather than must-win games, the final stretch of the regular season has become a chance for the Capitals to both rest veteran players and tweak their game going into the playoffs.
“Obviously, it’s not ideal,” Tom Wilson said of the stretch of losses. “There’s been a lot going on. We don’t want to make excuses. I think tonight was a little bit better, the compete was there. Obviously a couple of mistakes, they just end up in the back of our net.
It may not have shown on the scoreboard, but the Capitals already saw some of those much-needed improvements Sunday: per Natural Stat Trick, they out-chanced the Blue Jackets 29-15 at five-on-five, with an 8-5 advantage in high danger chances and 63.6 percent of expected goals for.
“I wouldn’t say it’s not working,” Wilson said. “It’s a long year. We’ve been really consistent all year. Obviously, there’s times we’re giving up more than we’d like. I haven’t looked at the film from tonight, but I felt like our compete was better. We fixed a lot of the stuff that had been giving us trouble.”
Head coach Spencer Carbery credited his team for their efforts at home while still acknowledging the need to improve before the postseason.
“I thought we played well for the most part,” he said. “Controlled play, out-chanced them significantly, had the puck the majority of the game. So it’s positive…We were concerned over the last little stretch just because we hadn’t played very well. Tonight, we played well. Now, we don’t come up on the right side of it — again — but tonight was a positive step. I know we lose 4-1, so it’s difficult to take positives out of that, but we have our eyes set on playing well.
“We have two games to go, but we understand what we’re trying to set ourselves up for. That’s the real objective. And I’m not selling short the regular season right now. I’m not selling short the way Columbus competed today and our urgency to meet that because I thought we did. So we’ve got our eyes set on being ready for Game 1.”
The Capitals have now allowed three or more goals in their last 11 games, but Alex Ovechkin also pointed to a lack of offense as a particular factor in recent losses. Columbus goaltender Jet Greaves put up a stellar performance despite playing both halves of the back-to-back, stopping a combined 51 of 52 shots.
Ovechkin, who scored Washington’s lone goal of the weekend, pointed to that lack of scoring while rejecting the idea of deeper concerns within the team.
“I don’t think something wrong — just if you look at the last two games, [we scored] only one goal,” he said. “And it’s hard in this league to win the game if you score one. I think mentally you just have to be ready for that kind of game in the playoffs and we just have to use our chances because every small detail is going to count. We’re big boys, so we understand what’s on the line. Two games left and we try to be ready.”
The Capitals also pointed to the pair of losses as a learning opportunity — Carbery pointed to difficulties scoring and strong opposition goaltending as “almost a guarantee” in any postseason series.
Several members of the team said the games felt more like playoff games as the Blue Jackets fought to avoid elimination. That urgency, in their eyes, could prove a benefit, allowing the Caps to learn from their mistakes before the start of the postseason.
“A lot of good things that we could take from this game and we’ve got to learn and be ready for the playoffs, where maybe one or two bad bounces can end up in the back of your net,” Mangiapane said.
When Ovechkin broke the all-time goals record last weekend, the Capitals saw the aftermath as a chance to reset, switching their focus from getting Ovechkin the puck to preparing for the playoffs. Two games later, they’ve continued to struggle.
Still, after such a dominant season, the Capitals believe they have what it takes.
“We have had such a great year,” Jakob Chychrun said. “It’s near impossible to go through 82 games and not have periods where you aren’t playing your best hockey. I just think for us, it’s been a little bit longer than we would like. But we know what we’re capable of, and we need to continue to work to get there.
“And we still have a couple of games. I don’t think concern, in this room, is going to be the right plan of attack for us moving forward. We’re going to continue to work together, stick together in this room, and find a way out of it and get ready for playoffs.”
