Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin wary he ‘didn’t play well’ in sweep

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin took the blame for his staff’s opening spherical sweep by the hands of the New York Rangers, the primary time the star winger ever went scoreless in a playoff sequence.

“It’s always tough to lose a series. We had pretty good chances. We just didn’t score. Our line didn’t score lots of goals,” he mentioned after a 4-2 Rangers win on Sunday evening in Washington, D.C. “Blame me. I didn’t play well.”

Ovechkin, 38, performed 15:26 in Game 4, his sixth-smallest quantity of ice time in a playoff recreation. That included simply 3:22 in the primary interval — 16 seconds lower than New York Rangers rookie Matt Rempe.

Ovechkin mentioned after Game 4 that he was wholesome in the sequence.

The sweep marked the primary time in Ovechkin’s 15 journeys to the Stanley Cup playoffs that he was held with out a level in a sequence. His 5 photographs on purpose have been additionally a profession postseason low: While Ovechkin was tied for nineteenth in the common season in photographs on purpose (272), he did not register a shot in Games 1 and 4 towards the Rangers.

It was a tough sequence for Ovechkin past the rating conventional rating sheet. Washington coach Spencer Carbery mentioned that his captain was “struggling” after their Game 2 loss to the Rangers, which included a essential Ovechkin turnover on an influence play that led to a shorthanded purpose that gave New York a 4-2 lead late in the second interval.

Carbery hoped that residence ice benefit in Games 3 and 4 may provide Ovechkin friendlier matchups, however the winger couldn’t get his offense going.

One main challenge was the Capitals’ energy play, which was humbled by the Rangers’ penalty kill. Washington went 0-for-8 at residence in Games 3 and 4, going 2-for-17 in the sequence.

Ovechkin is tied for eighth all-time in postseason power-play objectives (28 in 151 video games).

“The power play is such a big part of it, when it’s struggling and he’s not getting opportunities,” Carbery mentioned. “They checked him so tightly over there that every time he gets the puck, he has a half second to make a play and there’s usually a stick and some shin pads on it. I think that played a major role for him in this series.”

But the larger points, in line with the Capitals coach, was how a lot power Ovechkin needed to expend simply to get the staff into the postseason in the ultimate wild-card spot. Ovechkin scored 13 objectives in his final 17 video games of the season.

“I think that this year, leaning on him down the stretch the second half of the year, he did an incredible job finding his game,” Carbery mentioned. “We were so scoring challenged all season long. In the second half [after the trade deadline] it was even more of a challenge. That was a lot, the second half of the year. Especially the last two weeks where every game felt like life and death for our team. I felt like that took a lot out of him physically and mentally heading into the playoffs.”

Next season will likely be Ovechkin’s twentieth in the NHL. He’s 41 objectives away from equaling Wayne Gretzky’s NHL profession file whole.

Throughout his file chase, Ovechkin has been adamant that he desires to play for a Capitals staff that contends for the postseason and never only one attempting to service his pursuit of historical past.

When requested if he’s fearful this may be his final journey to the playoffs, Ovechkin mentioned, “I hope I’m still going to get a couple more chances.”

The Rangers, winners of the Presidents’ Trophy for the league’s greatest file, advance to the second spherical to face the winner of the Carolina Hurricanes vs. the New York Islanders, which Carolina leads 3-1.