Caps Face Isles in New York
Two nights after a 4-1 home ice loss to the Islanders, the Caps have a rematch in New York on Thursday
The Caps embark upon a season-ending set of back-to-back games in the New York metropolitan area, starting with a Thursday night date with the Islanders in their new Belmont. N.Y. home. Thursday's game also concludes a home-and-home set between the Caps and the Isles; New York put a 4-1 hurting on Washington in the Caps' home ice finale on Tuesday night in D.C.
An early coach's challenge went Washington's way in Tuesday's game in the District, keeping the game scoreless until Conor Sheary staked the Caps to a 1-0 lead less than two minutes later, just past the midpoint of the opening period. The Isles pulled even with a power play goal late in the first, and it was a 1-1 contest after 20 minutes.
Washington wasn't able to muster anything - not even momentum - with its two second-period power plays, and that came back to haunt them when New York struck for another power-play tally and a shorthanded goal in the early portion of the third.
On a night when Pittsburgh also took its lumps on home ice in a 5-1 loss to Edmonton, the Caps squandered an opportunity to slide past the Pens and into third place in the Metropolitan Division standings.
"We were flat," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette, whose postgame press conference was clipped and short, covering eight media questions in less than two minutes.
Asked whether they were flat mentally or physically, Laviolette's response was: "Both."
The good news is the Caps get another crack against the Islanders in their barn on Thursday night. Washington trails the Penguins by one point, and the Caps hold a game in hand on Pittsburgh. The Caps have two games remaining while the Pens have just one, on Friday at home against Columbus. Thursday's game against the Isles is literally the Caps' game in hand; both Washington and Pittsburgh play their final regular season games at 7 p.m. on Friday night.
Washington can't learn with certainty the identity of its first-round playoff opponent until those Friday games are in the books, but the Caps do control their own fate. If they win each of their last two games, the Capitals will finish ahead of Pittsburgh, regardless of what it does against the Blue Jackets in its regular season finale on Friday.
"Maybe this is a good thing, and we have to learn to move past it," says Sheary. "Come playoff time, there are going to be points where you lose games, tough ones. We've just got to move on. We still have an opportunity to move up in the standings, and we have two games left. Our focus is the next game against the Islanders, and to try to put together a solid 60 minutes and to like our game going into the playoffs, get our special teams back on track and do the right things to play well."
Should the Caps finish third in the Metropolitan Division, they'll face the New York Rangers in the first round. If Pittsburgh ends up in third place, the Caps will take on the Florida Panthers in the first round. Either way, the Caps will start the first round of the playoffs on the road for the first time in a decade, since they stunned the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins in a taut seven-game series in 2012 on Joel Ward's overtime game-winner in Game 7 in Boston.
Before then, they'll be looking to get their game back on track heading into the playoffs. Since the start of March, the Caps are 16-6-3, the fifth best record in the NHL over that span. Playing their last two games on the road might help; Washington's 25-8-6 road record is the best in the NHL, and the Caps can match a franchise record by winning these final two road contests. The Capitals were 27-10-4 on the road during their Presidents' Trophy winning season of 2015-16.
"We can't play like we did [Tuesday] going into the playoffs," says Laviolette. "This isn't who we are; this isn't our M.O.. It was one night, and it was lousy. And so, that's that."
The Isles played without several regulars in Tuesday's win, putting a halt to a five-game losing skid (0-4-1) in the process. Center Brock Nelson and ex-Caps defenseman Zdeno Chara missed the game because of illness, and New York was already without forwards Anthony Beauvillier (upper body) and Cal Clutterbuck (shoulder), and defenseman Scott Mayfield (lower body).
New York did get center Jean-Gabriel Pageau back from COVID-19 protocol, and the Isles played with an 11 forward/seven defensemen alignment in Tuesday's front end of the home-and-home set.
After hosting the Caps on Thursday, the Isles will conclude their 2021-22 season with a Friday night home game against Tampa Bay.
