WASHINGTON — Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin didn't hold back, stating the — albeit ugly — truth following a swift sweep at the hands of the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers.
Ovechkin was open, honest after being held scoreless in a playoff series for the first time in his monumental career, bluntly sharing that his perofmrance just wasn't good enough.
"It's always tough to lose a series... we just didn't score. Our line didn't score lots of goals, and blame on me. I didn't play well, so it kind of sucks that we played bad," Ovechkin said.
For the 38-year-old, who had 22 goals in his final 36 games of the regular season to propel Washington into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first place, went without a point through four games and was a minus-2.
He played just 15:26 minutes in the elimination Game 4, going shotless in a game where his team needed him the most.
So, what went wrong for the Capitals star?
According to Ovechkin, it wasn't a matter of health. He said he felt fine through the series, but whether that's to be taken as gospel can be an ongoing debate; it's up to players if they share if they're hurting, and No. 8 isn't a complainer. He wasn't looking to make excuses for himself, either — though he certainly could have.
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But despite not having an excuse, he didn't really have an answer for his struggles, either.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I don't have that kind of touches. I try to find a different way to put the puck in."
Head coach Spencer Carbery said part of it boiled down to the Rangers coverage, led by Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren, the younger brother of Capitals goaltender Charlie.
"They checked him so tightly over there that now, all of a sudden, every time he gets a puck, he's got a half second to make a play, and there's usually a stick or some shin pads on him," Carbery said.
Ovechkin didn't get much time and space to work with, and even when he did, he wasn't able to get pucks on net. The Russian winger also found himself less mobile than he had been down the stretch, as he wasn't getting to those high-danger areas and at times, was stationary.
New York's top-tier penalty kill also blocked a lot of chances and potted back-to-back shorthanded goals when Ovechkin was the last to touch the puck on the D.C. side.
At 5-on-5, the Rangers' 1-3-1 coverage also made it difficult to get into the offensive zone to generate high-danger chances. And even with Carbery shaking things up and rotating Connor McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre and Dylan Strome to all work with No. 8, it wasn't enough.
"We tried to find a way, but I don’t think we stuck in the offensive zone a lot and if we are over there, it’s kind of like they just throw it back in the neutral zone and we have to go back and back and forth, back and forth," Ovechkin said. "It kind of was a frustrating game, but it’s the playoffs. We all understand the urgency have to be a little bit higher."
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Another potential explanation offered by Carbery: burnout. Simply put, Ovechkin's red-hot second half finally ran out of gas.
"That was a lot. The second half of the year and espeically the last, call it two weeks, where every game felet like life or death of our team... I feel like that took a lot out of him physically and mentally," Carbery admitted.
And then, there's a statement of fact: the Rangers outplayed Washington, plain and simple, leading to the sweep.
For Ovechkin, he knows that there may not be that many shots left at a Stanley Cup at this point in his career; he has two years left on his contact, and all the while, just 42 goals left to break Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL goals record.
But still, hope remains for the future Hall-of-Famer.
"I hope I'm still going to get a couple chances," Ovechkin said.
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