Capitals have little to play for — and it shows — in loss to Rangers

Near the end of a frustrating loss in an agonizing season, Alex Ovechkin seemed to finally snap. 

Perhaps upset with a noncall on the other end, the score or some other variable, the Washington Capitals captain soon started to cross-check the nearest New York Ranger he could find. And he threw an elbow or two, for good measure — earning a two-minute minor penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct penalty that effectively served as an ejection. 

With only 3:31 left in Washington’s 5-2 loss, Ovechkin’s day was done. But not before two fights around the Russian broke out on the ice. 

“Those situations add up a little bit and you get frustrated,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said of Ovechkin’s penalty. “It was probably to be expected.”

Sunday’s defeat to the Rangers didn’t technically eliminate the Capitals (34-34-9, 77 points) from the NHL playoffs. That moment may come as soon as Tuesday, depending on how that evening’s action unfolds. But make no mistake, with five games now left for Washington, that moment is coming. The Capitals were still eight points behind the Florida Panthers for the East’s final wild-card spot entering Sunday’s matinee — putting their postseason chances at less than 1%. 

The reality of the situation hasn’t been lost on the Capitals. They have reached the point of the regular season in which they have little left to play for, other than pride. 

And against the Rangers (45-21-11, 101 points), that was evident. Players still raced up and down the ice, trying to chip away at New York’s lead. They got into several fights, including when Tom Wilson traded blows with New York’s Barclay Goodrow and Washington’s Martin Fehérváry tussled with Niko Mikkola after Ovechkin’s penalty. 

But those efforts weren’t met with a thunderous response from the home crowd.

Instead, Washington’s seats were filled by blue-and-red-wearing New York fans who frequently broke out in “Let’s go Rangers” chants and cheered every big, non-Capitals moment. Washington’s fans arguably understood: There wasn’t much to cheer. 

“It’s difficult,” defenseman John Carlson said of Washington’s fourth straight loss. “Nobody wanted this, no one expected this. … You got to work through the bad moments to get to those points and I think our effort was there. [But] our execution was really poor.”

Before the game, Laviolette entered the afternoon hopeful that Washington would at least deliver a better effort from Thursday’s 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Days later, Laviolette still stewed over how the Capitals failed to respond to the adversity of that contest. Washington’s plane landed in Tampa at 3 a.m., but Laviolette said that was no excuse to play as poorly as the team did. “It’s almost like we were groggy,” he said. 

This time around, the Capitals had a full two days of rest before facing the Rangers. And yet, Washington began the first period looking in need of a spark. Both teams failed to generate much offense over the first 10-plus minutes, though it was the Rangers who finally got on the board when defenseman K’Andre Miller scored off the rebound from center Vincent Trocheck’s shot at 13:17. 

Then, just over two minutes later — before Washington’s public address announcer even announced Miller’s score — winger Alexis Lafrenière helped make it 2-0 with a nifty backhand goal in which he avoided Rasmus Sandin’s stick and shot the puck past  Darcy Kuemper to land in the back of the net. 

The Rangers, who have clinched a playoff spot and sit third in the Metropolitan Division, have the kind of firepower to add to the lead quickly. Beyond Lafrenière’s score, New York needed only a minute into the second period before winger Kaapo Kakko scored to add to the Rangers’ lead. 

Generating offense for the Capitals, by contrast, has been a struggle all season long. Even with Ovechkin, Washington entered Sunday’s contest averaging just 3.11 goals per game — the 13th-worst mark in the NHL. 

Against the Rangers, center Dylan Strome scored Washington’s first goal when he fired off a shot that snuck through goaltender Igor Shesterkin’s legs with 6:37 left in the second. The Capitals, though, didn’t score again until there was 8:16 left in the game when Aliaksei Protas took advantage of a crowd in front of New York’s net to slip one by Shesterkin. 

The score cut New York’s lead to 4-2, but the Rangers soon answered with a Mika Zibanejad power-play goal. New York got on the advantage after Capitals winger Conor Sheary committed an interference penalty. 

According to Stat Muse, Sunday’s contest was the 35th outing this season in which the Capitals failed to score no more than two goals. 

They are 3-27-5 in such games.

“You’re still trying to fight through every game,” Strome said. “We’re proud guys in here and we obviously wanna win and mathematically, obviously, it doesn’t look great.”