ARLINGTON, VA — The 2024 Washington Capitals are used to playing as the underdog.
Their postseason odds were slim down to the final week of the regular season, they needed a Game 82 victory to eke out a spot, and they set a cap-era record for the worst goal differential (-37) by a playoff team. Just making the playoffs marked a significant achievement for this team, offering valuable experience to many of their young players after a season that could have ended more than a week ago.
But even down 3-0 to the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers, the Capitals aren’t willing to write themselves off just yet. Head coach Spencer Carbery acknowledged the benefits that even a first-round loss would give the team but refused to go out quietly.
“Just being able to play every day, you’re appreciative of being in the playoffs and continuing to prolong your season, so it’s really valuable,” he said Sunday morning. “And then playing in Madison Square Garden, all these different things that come up. I also look at it: measuring yourself against some of the best players in the world that are potentially, everybody’s fighting for a Cup. New York is right there at the top with some of the teams that expect to win the Stanley Cup. So it’s a good measuring stick moment to see, ‘Okay, this is the level that I’m trying to aspire to get to and be able to do it consistently.’
“But in the same sentence, I will say this — and this is where for me, it’ll never be ever — I don’t care what our scenario (is): rebuild, youngest team in the league, it will not matter to me. And we will never be satisfied if we gained experience, got into the playoffs. Because to me, that’s a loser’s mindset.”
When faced with a 3-0 deficit, the Capitals have a franchise record of 3-3 to stave off a sweep in Game Four — a feat they will try to replicate Sunday night. They last did so in the 2020 playoffs against the New York Islanders, where they edged out a 3-2 win in Game Four before a 4-0 Game Five loss ended their season two days later. Only four teams in NHL history have overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a series; the last to do so was the 2014 Stanley Cup-winning LA Kings.
Carbery remained realistic about the Caps’ odds, but emphasized the importance of continuing the fight, especially for the team’s younger players. Eight Capitals players have made their NHL playoff debut this season: while even a 0-4 loss would contribute to their development, Carbery argued that part of that growth meant not taking failure lying down.
“Whether we’re the youngest team in the league, we should — doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, doesn’t mean we’re going to win a Stanley Cup. But you should have a mindset that you expect to win and you expect to get in the playoffs and you expect to beat the New York Rangers in the first round. And anything short of that is a failure. Now, at a certain point, you come to grips with that, you learn, but that’s always your mindset, is ‘I’m winning tonight.’
“Whether you’re playing against the defending Stanley Cup champions in the youngest team in the league, you’re rebuilding and you’re step one, yeah, it might not happen, but that’s your mindset. And that’s what I think for us as a group and for me, the culture in rebuilding this thing is: that is one of the cornerstone parts. And we expect to beat the New York Rangers tonight. It’s not okay that we got ‘experience’ and we made the playoffs.”
With their seasons on the line once again, the Capitals will make their last stand Sunday night when the puck drops at 8 pm at Capital One Arena.
