Williams has won the Stanley Cup three times in his career, so he knows what the other side of games like the one Tuesday feels like. Ovechkin does not, and with his 31st birthday coming before next season, it would be natural for him to wonder if he'll ever get to experience that.
"When you're in this game, the shelf life in the National Hockey League, if you're a top player, is 10, 12 years, and so when you don't go that far, the window sort of seems like it closes, and if you haven't got past that, it gets frustrating," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "It does, there's no question, because I think the sense of mortality sets in.
"Just getting into the playoffs is so darn hard. You don't even know if you're going to get to the playoffs next year."
Trotz, 53, has also never been past the second round of the playoffs, so he probably feels his personal clock ticking as well. Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan hired him two years ago to help the Capitals finally break free from their underachieving past.
He knows he hasn't done that, yet.
"We've made some progress, but obviously not enough," Trotz said. "We need to get through this round. That's part of the deal. That will always be thrown at us until we get through that, so we need to do it."