The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Washington Capitals, 3-1, at Capital One Center on Thursday night. Rod Brind’Amour’s club cut down the top-seeded Caps in Five games. Carolina won the Eastern Conference Semifinal series, four games to one. Up next: Carolina will take on the winner of the Florida Panthers’ series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
If the Capitals had played the first four games of their series like they did most of Game Five, they probably wouldn’t have been facing elimination on Thursday night. Unfortunately for Washington, it was an elimination game. A few hours later, the handshake line formed near center ice.
Costly offside
The Caps pressured Carolina netminder Frederik Andersen for most of the contest. Things started well enough. The game went to the first intermission tied at 1-1. At least, Washington generated an opening periods goal for the first time since Game Two.
The Capitals saw a would-be tally washed out in the second period. Connor McMichael’s early entry in the zone negated the potential go-ahead goal. There was no suspense on this review. McMichael was easily six inches offside. Alas, the non-goal would the last puck the Capitals put past Andersen in this series.
Desperation push falls short
In their own end, the Capitals weren’t bad. Goaltender Logan Thompson’s overall play was decent enough to keep his team in the games. In particular, he made a spectacular first-period save on Logan Stankoven. That said, the two goals Thompson yielded in Game Five were stoppable. With no margin for error, Thompson faced this situation: If you see it, you have to make the save.
For all his solid work this season and during portios of this series, Thompson allowed some uncharacteristically soft goals. As the series progressed, he had to out-duel Andersen. That simply didn’t happen.
Taken on the whole, Thompson was OK in this series, but a .900 save percentage wasn’t good enough. He was very good in Games One and Two. Subsequently, he didn’t deliver saves in Raleigh that could have stemmed the tide. While he made nice saves in Game 5, two miscues figured directly into why Washington’s season ended on Thursday.
Washington played from behind all series long after dropping Game One in overtime. In reality, with the exception of Game Two, the Capitals didn’t sustain a consistent effort until they were face elimination. On Thursday, the combined lack of scoring and timely goaltending proved fatal
Bottom line: Carolina didn’t have a regulation lead in the first two games of the series, but managed a road split. Washington didn’t hold a lead the last three games, and lost all three matches. The Capitals’ woes in Raleigh, which date back to 2022, continue unabated. At home, the Capitals were 1-2. That’s a losing equation any year.
Before the series, the keys to this series were 1) the Capitals had to press Andersen, 2) Thompson had to be sharp and 3) Washington had to have road success. None came to pass.
Insufficient shot quantity or quality
Washington had just 96 shots in five games, not enough to really challenge the Danish netminder. While the Capitals got a bit more looks getting him to move side to side late in Games 4 and 5, really Washington never generated enough to make him uncomfortable in net. Andersen was very good at times, and seemingly got his way into Washington’s head as the series progressed.
The two games in Raleigh were precisely where the Capitals gave themselves no margin for error the rest of the series. While they were decent in Game Three in the first half, they were awful the last 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Spancer Carbery’s team was not a lot better in Game Four. Even if the Capitals won on Thursday to force Game Six, the end seemed near.
After losing Game One, Washington had to chase the series. They never caught up. At times, the Capitals showed they could play with the Hurricanes, but couldn’t convert enough offensive opportunities and made too many mistakes to advance.
Preparing for a deeper playoff run
In the big picture, the Washington Capitals’ 50th Anniversary season was a step forward. Few expected the Capitals to even make the playoffs, let alone win their first Metropolitan Division title since 2021 and their first series win since 2018 over a young and skilled Montreal club. Despite Alex Ovechkin breaking his leg in Salt Lake City and missing 16 games, he still passed Wayne Gretzky atop the NHL’s goal-scoring list.
Last year, the Capitals were the last team in the playoffs and didn’t win a game. This year, they were the first team in in and certainly seem to be a lot more equipped to make another run next season in what could be Ovechkin’s final season in the NHL.
Clearly, this series showed the holes that the Capitals need to address this offseason. The team didn’t generate enough offense, but also have some bright prospects who can possibly step up into the lineup. Ryan Leonard will benefit from a full training camp. Ilya Protas and Andrew Cristall should at least be in the system in the fall.
Washington only has a handful of unrestricted free agents, the most notable being the last goal-scorer in the playoffs, Anthony Beauvillier, picked up form Pittsburgh at the deadline, but seemed to be a good fit and could return.
So with a team that got 111 points and won the Eastern Conference regular-season title, most of them will return, with both goalies, most of their defense and a bulk of their forwards will be back, and bolstered by those prospects.
So while many thought the 2024-25 season would just be about Ovechkin’s goal-scoring chase, it ended up being a lot more and had the team in the league’s final eight. Now, the team has some choices to make before moving forward into next one.
While the team’s disappointing end certainly will sting in the short-term, the Capitals hope this rebuild that seemed to move quickly progesses further next season. While they couldn’t get ahead of the Hurricanes in this series, there showed what a couple of years ago seemingly would be a long rebuild now has a pretty bright future if they play their cards right.
