Capitals eliminated from playoffs, Rangers' superior depth among culprits

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the New York Rangers with a 4-2 loss in Game 4 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round on Sunday. It was the first time Washington was swept in a first-round series in its 49-season history.

The Capitals (40-31-11) qualified for the playoffs as the second wild card from the East after missing the postseason last season for the first time since 2014. Washington has made the playoffs in 15 of Alex Ovechkin's 19 seasons but has not won a series since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Max Pacioretty, F; Nicolas Aube-Kubel, F; Joe Snively, F; Lucas Johansen, D

Potential restricted free agents: Connor McMichael, F; Beck Malenstyn, F; Matthew Phillips, F; Hardy Haman Aktell, D

Potential 2024 Draft picks: 8

Here are five reasons the Capitals were eliminated:

1. Rangers' superior depth

The Capitals overcame their lack of scoring depth and surprised many by qualifying for the playoffs, but were overmatched against the Rangers, who won the Presidents' Trophy by leading the NHL with a team-record 114 points (55-23-4). New York had 10 players score goals, including four with more than one, led by Vincent Trocheck's three. Washington had six players score a goal with defenseman Martin Fehervary being the only one to get two. McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre were the only Capitals forwards to score a goal 5-on-5. Ovechkin did not have a point in a playoff series for the first time in his NHL career.

The Capitals' offensive struggles carried over from the regular season, when they were 28th in the NHL with 2.63 goals per game. Ovechkin (31), Dylan Strome (27) and Anthony Mantha (20 before being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights on March 5) were Washington's only players to reach 20 goals. Strome (67), Ovechkin (65) and John Carlson (52) were the only ones to reach 40 points.

2. Special teams struggles

The Capitals hoped it to keep the games 5-on-5 as much as possible and it turned into a special teams series, which played to the Rangers' strengths. New York was 6-for-16 (37.5 percent) on the power play and scored two short-handed goals, which turned to be the winning goals in Games 2 and 3.

The Capitals were 2-for-17 (11.8 percent) with the man-advantage, with both goals coming in Game 2, and allowed those two backbreaking short-handed goals. Washington had the top-ranked power play in the NHL after Jan. 26 (29.3 percent), but struggled against New York's penalty kill, which was third in the League (84.5 percent).

3. Ovechkin couldn't get on track

After finishing the season strong by scoring 23 goals in his final 36 games, Ovechkin reverted to his form in his first 43 games, when he scored only eight goals. The 38-year-old left wing had trouble finding time and space to get his shot off against the Rangers' diligent defending. He was held without a shot on goal in Games 1 and 4, which happened only three times in his playoff career before the series and managed just one shot on goal in Game 2. 

With the Capitals' power play struggling to produce open looks, Ovechkin finished the series with five shots on goal, had 11 attempts blocked and six that missed the net.

4. Injuries on defense

Washington played the first three games missing two of their top four defensemen with Rasmus Sandin and Nick Jensen recovering from upper-body injuries. The Capitals also lost rookie defenseman Vincent Iorio when he sustained an upper-body injury on a hit from Alexis Lafreniere in the second period of Game 1 and veteran Trevor van Riemsdyk with an upper-body injury following a hit from Matt Rempe in the first period of Game 3.

With Iorio, Alexander Alexeyev and Johansen making their NHL playoff debuts and Dylan McIlrath playing only one previous NHL playoff game, the Capitals relied heavily on Carlson (averaged 29:12 of ice time), Fehervary (21:45) and van Riemsdyk (22:07 in first two games). 

Carlson, who led the NHL in averaging 25:54 during the regular season, wore down as the series progressed.

5. Lindgren was human

The Capitals needed goalie Charlie Lindgren to steal a game or two to have a chance of defeating the Rangers and he was unable to do that, posting a 3.58 goals-against average and .864 save percentage in his first NHL playoff experience. Those numbers were in part a product of how they played in front of him, but the 30-year-old also didn't come up with kind of goal-robbing saves he made routinely during their push to make the playoffs.  

After overtaking Darcy Kuemper as the No. 1 goalie, Lindgren was a driving force during that push, starting 19 of their final 22 regular-season games and going 12-6-2 with a 2.39 GAA, .919 save percentage and three shutouts. But he might have run out of gas after setting an NHL career-high by playing 50 regular-season games.