Don’t count the Washington Capitals out just yet.
Washington won its third-straight contest Monday night, defeating the Calgary Flames in a resounding 5-2 victory. With the win, the Capitals have returned to a playoff spot, leapfrogging the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.
The Caps had been out of the playoff picture for more than two months, last holding the same wild-card spot on January 8, but the team refused to go out gently this season. Now, all of that work is paying off in the standings.
“It’s a great feeling,” captain Alex Ovechkin said after the victory. “We knew it’s not going to be easy. Yeah, we keep fighting, keep playing, and we work it up game by game.”
A month before facing the Flames, playoff aspirations seemed out of the question for the Capitals: the team sat six points out of a wild-card position, had lost eight of their last 10 games, and had single-digit odds of making the postseason, per HockeyViz.
But while several of their Eastern Conference competitors floundered, the Capitals came back swinging. They have put up a 9-4-1 record over the last month — even after losing Evgeny Kuznetsov, Anthony Mantha, and Joel Edmundson at the trade deadline.
“We’re playing good hockey right now,” Tom Wilson told Monumental Sports Network’s Al Koken. “We’re playing for one another. It’s a good chemistry in the room and we’ve just got to keep it going”
Spectacular performances from goaltender Charlie Lindgren and contributions from several players from last year’s championship Hershey Bears squad have played a large role in the Capitals’ return to playoff contention. Hendrix Lapierre, who has eight points (6g, 2a) in his last 11 games, credits his experiences during the Bears’ 2023 Calder Cup run for helping him perform under pressure.
“I think it’s helped us tremendously, playing big games,” he explained. “You don’t realize when you’re in the mix of it, right? But as the summer went on, I was like, ‘You know what? We played some really important games…’ I think it really helps us with just the experience, managing the game, the score, all that stuff. It’s just little things. So I think it’s helped us tremendously and it shows for the other guys, everyone’s just playing really good and no one’s panicking. So I feel like it was super beneficial for us.“
Even after their recent upswing, Washington’s future is far from guaranteed. Per Tankathon, only the Montreal Canadiens will face a stronger schedule to end the regular season as teams like the Red Wings, New York Islanders, and Buffalo Sabres attempt to usurp the Capitals. Still, the team that once appeared destined for an early offseason now holds better-than-even odds of playing further into the spring.
“I think we’re just coming together at the right time as a team,” Dylan Strome said. “And obviously we’ve got to — not looking too far ahead, but we’ve got some tough games coming up. So the points are huge. Nice to climb back into a playoff spot. Now every team is going to be hoping that we lose, like we’ve been doing for other teams.”
Head coach Spencer Carbery agreed with his leading scorer and is trying not to think too much about the playoff picture. Instead, he offered a measured response when asked about the Capitals’ chase.
“We’ll focus on one day at a time,” he said. “Tomorrow we’ll rest, we’ll travel tomorrow, and then get ready for Toronto.”
But while his words stayed relatively restrained, a wide grin betrayed Carbery as he spoke. After all hope seemed lost, the Capitals have climbed back up the standings: now they just have to hold on.
