ARLINGTON, VA — Spencer Carbery isn’t ready to go down without a fight. A protracted comeback effort had carried the Capitals back into a playoff spot in the second half of the season, but by mid-April the team has faded down the stretch, losing seven of their last eight games. They now sit in fifth place in the Metropolitan Division and a point back of a wild-card spot with three games remaining.
After a loss to the already-eliminated Buffalo Sabres worsened Washington’s chances even further, Carbery acknowledged how much the extended playoff push had cost his team as the season went on, noting how months of pressing for a spot have taken their toll on his players as they move towards the finish line. At this point, it would take a dramatic upswing — and some help from other teams — to push their way back up the standings in a final week of must-win games, but Carbery wasn’t ready to give up just yet.
“You certainly are aware of the mental strain that the last three months has put on the group, especially with the amount of young players going through it for the first time,” he said after practice on Friday. “But then my head goes to — this is the best time of the year to be playing meaningful games. So that’s where you just drum up that extra bit of motivation and attention to detail and mental fortitude to perform at your best in these situations.”
The Capitals faced a series of hurdles as they worked to stay in contention for a postseason spot. They lost all of Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Anthony Mantha, while TJ Oshie’s back injury has kept him out of much of the season. At the All-Star Break, the Capitals sat second-last in the Metro while Alex Ovechkin had scored only nine goals. Carbery was confident that even after spending months dragging their way back into a playoff spot, they could still find gas left in the tank for the final few games.
“We’ve continued to respond or fight, scratch, claw, however you want to describe it, in this scenario for the last three months,” he noted. “I believe, genuinely, that it will be no different tomorrow of how we play. And does that mean we’re going to win the hockey game? Hopefully. It doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee, but I know this group by now and I’m fairly confident that we’ll put everything we have into tomorrow and try to find a result.”
Ever process-oriented, Carbery kept his focus on the games ahead. As he saw it, the Caps have struggled most when they deviated from the low-event style of game they played best. He pointed to the second period against the Sabres as a prime example, when the strengths of Washington’s first 20 minutes faded away.
“We go 15 minutes without a shot,” he said, “and I’ll tell you exactly why. We get away from what we did in the first because we start to press. We start to make plays. But it’s not our game. Tom Wilson throwing a puck off an entry behind his back — we can just do better. And that’s not to pick on Tom. That’s our whole team. We just try, and then our D start to try to force pucks. We know our D from an offensive standpoint. We sit at the bottom of the league or somewhere close to it in production. Which is fine — it’s not fine, we’ve got to create more from there, but we don’t now need to save the world when we get a low-to-high and ‘I’ve got to score, I’ve got to score.’
“No. Continue to do the same things that we did in the first period to generate 11 shots, 6 high-danger looks, control play. We had 30-some-odd shot attempts. We controlled play. It’s hard because that takes a lot of work… We have to play that way to have success. It can’t be 20 minutes, it can’t be 40 minutes, it can’t be 52 minutes. It has to be 60 minutes. And that will give us an opportunity to win a game.”
Still, the Capitals could use a hero. The team’s already-limited offense has continued to cost them over their recent slump, with their last three-plus goal game coming on March 26. Carbery credited Connor McMichael for breaking a seven-game point drought to bring the Caps within one against Buffalo, explaining how moments like that could prove the deciding factor in the remaining games.
“Hopefully some of our guys, especially our young guys, will find that scoring knack at this level. That’s what we’re hoping for from the Lapierres, McMichaels, Miroshnichenko. We’re hoping that those guys potentially could be 25, maybe 30 goal scorers in this league. Is it a guarantee? No. It’s hard to score in this league. And so when you get into these situations like we had last night where you’ve got some really good looks: Mikey down the wing, good look right there early in the game. Stromer, a couple good looks, he hits shin pads. Alexeyev in the slot. You know, you’ve got to find a way to score in those. And that’s the difference between winning and losing games, right?
“And it’s not on Al to, ‘Gosh, because I didn’t score, we didn’t win the game.’ No, but we do need some guys to step up and make big plays. And that’s why [Ovechkin’s] goal in Detroit is such a big goal. Someone coming down the wing. And it’s like Buffalo’s goal. Alex Tuck pulls a puck and you might say, ‘it’s an individual play. It’s a great play.’ Jack Quinn’s goal: he toe drags a guy, Nick Jensen, inside and snaps it in the back of the net. We need some of those plays desperately this time of year. And we got it in Detroit, didn’t get it last night. We need someone to make — or multiple players to make — some plays tomorrow for us offensively.”
Washington no longer has control of its destiny, meaning any last-minute effort could prove too little, too late. Their playoff odds have dipped to around one in five and there’s little time to rest for an exhausted roster. But after months of fighting, this team insists they’re ready to keep going until the end.
