The Washington Capitals have a new tagline for the 2022 playoffs: No Excuses.

“Since the beginning of the year, it doesn’t matter,” Alex Ovechkin said explaining its meaning. “We have to take two steps, right? The first step is making the playoffs and then to win the Cup. We have to take no excuses for it.”

The phrase has been posted on the Capitals’ social media and is also featured on shirts the players are wearing around the rink.

The #Caps’ playoff t-shirt has the axe and shield and the words “No Excuses” on the back.

— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) May 1, 2022

The team is also using ax and shield-inspired imagery from its postgame awards that were conceived by Peter Laviolette after watching the Amazon Prime series Vikings.

We! Want! The! Fan! Ax! 🪓 https://t.co/KBEOCO73kH

— RMNB (@rmnb) May 3, 2022

Past taglines include Entitled To Nothing, Next Level, and my personal favorite, Will Over Skill.

Headline photo via @Capitals/Twitter