Capitals playoff hopes take another big hit after loss to Mammoth, their final game before the trade deadline: ‘There’s a lot of things that are issues’
WASHINGTON, DC — The Washington Capitals knew what was at stake when they faced the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday. They entered the night two points out of a playoff spot, with one last game to go before Friday’s trade deadline.
That desperation was obvious in the third period against Utah, which saw the Capitals narrow their deficit to one and come close to tying the game with the extra attacker. But the comeback effort came too late to save them from a weak first half of the game that left them in a two-goal hole at second intermission, and the night ended in a 3-2 loss.
Washington split its four-game stretch between the Olympics and the trade deadline 2-2-0, hardly the impression the team had hoped for. With so little room for error — head coach Spencer Carbery estimated last week that the Caps would need a record of 16-7 in their last 23 games — Tuesday’s loss hit the locker room hard.
“This time of the year, we can’t afford to have a bad first period,” Pierre-Luc Dubois said, voice unsteady. “Nobody’s dumb in here. Nobody’s stupid. We all know. We can talk about urgency. We were trying. I just thought that there was a little disconnect there in the first. It’s not urgency or not. It’s just making bad decisions, bad reads.”
Though all but one of Tuesday’s goals came on the power play, Utah dominated the Capitals at five-on-five through forty minutes: the Mammoth led shot attempts 26-8 in the first period and 25-15 in the second.
Utah struck first with two in the opening period: first an even-strength tally from Dylan Guenther, then a power-play goal from Mikhail Sergachev 2:11 later. Carbery noted that playing a speedy, high-skill team like the Mammoth took the Capitals time to adjust to, costing them early.
“That’s a fast team, and they are really skilled…It’s just different than a lot of the teams that we play,” Carbery said. “And so getting comfortable with how quick they are, it took us some time. Is that an excuse? Absolutely not. We’ve got to be able to be prepared for their speed and skill, their ability to get through the neutral zone, their ability to cut on entries, a lot of different stuff.
Dubois’ first-period tally halved Utah’s lead, giving the Capitals their first power-play goal since the Olympic break, but the Mammoth’s power play struck back with a goal from JJ Peterka late in the second period, giving Washington just over 20 minutes to mount a multi-goal comeback.
The Capitals came close to managing it. Ryan Leonard ended a 14-game goal drought to give Washington a second power-play goal on the night — particularly impressive given the power play’s struggles this season — and Washington was able to create offensive pressure.
Once Carbery pulled goaltender Logan Thompson, the Capitals looked even stronger. Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka made an impressive save to stop Dubois from scoring on a snap shot, diving across the net after stopping a one-timer from Alex Ovechkin.
The team looked dangerous until nearly the final horn, but Utah was able to run out the clock. Tom Wilson criticized the Capitals’ start for costing them the much-needed two points in the standings.
“I think we needed more urgency in the first 20,” he said. “Obviously they were executing very well. They were making plays and skating well, but we just didn’t make it hard enough on them…It’s tough to come from behind. Obviously, we played probably well enough in the third, but just couldn’t find one.”
Asked how to find that push earlier in the game, Leonard didn’t have an easy answer, though he knew it’d require improvements from the whole locker room.
“Everyone’s got to show up on time, and it’s not one guy’s fault in here,” he said. “We all have to be better and start on time and take it to them the first five minutes and set the tone for the game.”
Carbery didn’t necessarily see the slow start and late-game comeback effort as characteristic of the season as a whole, but his assessment of the team was hardly a ringing endorsement. He offered the counterpoint of Friday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights, which saw the Capitals start strong before a weak third period nearly cost them the win.
“It hasn’t been a consistent theme,” Carbery said. “I feel like it’s been there sometimes, and then sometimes we lay off the gas. Vegas, prime example. We just played them two games ago, right? Great start. Terrible in the second half of the game. We’re completely back on our heels. We get Vegas back into the game. They have multiple grade-As to be able to tie that game up. We hang on, find a way to win. So that would be the complete opposite of what happened tonight.
“Do I think it’s an issue, our starts? At times. I think there’s a lot of things that are issues, whether it’s the end of our games, our ability to protect leads, our ability to get up in a game and stay up. There’s a lot of different things. So to me, the start tonight, no doubt. And has it been an issue for multiple games throughout the year? Absolutely has, but also has been closing out games as well.”
After Tuesday’s loss, the Capitals now have just an 18.3% chance of making the playoffs, per MoneyPuck, down from a 27.3% chance pregame. The team that travels to Boston to face the Bruins on Saturday may look different than the Capitals who took the ice on Tuesday, potentially adding a significant weapon to the arsenal or potentially selling off assets. Regardless of how the deadline goes, however, Carbery asserted that the Capitals won’t take their foot off the pedal.
“I know our group. I know our staff. We will continue to fight every single game, and we’ll prepare the same way, and we’re going to try to win a game on Saturday against Boston,” Carbery said. “And that’s it. Whether we’re six points out, ten points out, whether there’s six trades, zero trades, it’s not going to affect how we prepare and how we expect to perform on Saturday with our entire group.”
