Spencer Carbery’s postgame news conference after his Washington Capitals lost Game 3 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series lasted all of six minutes. In that span, he used four variations of the word struggle, called his team “very, very limited offensively” and pointed out that Washington’s “lack of foot speed” was exposed on the shorthanded goal that stood up as the game-winner.
Carbery, the rookie coach who made significant changes to his system early in the season when it became clear this version of the Capitals was going to struggle mightily to score, has offered honest evaluations of his team this year. And as Washington faces elimination in Game 4 on Sunday night at Capital One Arena, Carbery is keenly aware the Capitals’ season-long issues have been at the center of their difficulties in this series.
“It’s not a lack of effort. Guys are trying. It’s just, we’re very, very limited offensively with what we can do with the puck,” Carbery said Friday night. “In these situations where we get down in a game — we get out to a good start. We need to keep them at one or two [goals]. That’s what it’s been all year. … We’re limited offensively, and you can see it in these moments. Power play and just the ability to — we need to just make those final one, two, three [plays], and it’s been a struggle all year. It’s no different right now.”
The mood was somber in the home dressing room at Capital One Arena on Friday as Washington reckoned with coming up short for the third game in a row. The Capitals haven’t lacked opportunities to seize momentum throughout the series, which makes the three consecutive losses all the more frustrating. They scored the first goal in Game 2 and Game 3, and they are 2 for 15 on the power play in the series — and have allowed two shorthanded goals.
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The wounds, in other words, are self-inflicted. The Rangers have scored three power-play goals; five of their 11 goals have come on special teams. Washington has scored just five goals total.
The Capitals know, and have known for months, their ticket to victories is grinding out low-scoring games. They are not designed to win 5-4 — 2-1, or maybe 3-2, is about as much as they can do.
“Special teams have been an important part of the series. I think five-on-five, we’re right with them, but power play and penalty kill we’ve struggled a little bit,” center Hendrix Lapierre said Saturday. “At the end of the year, when we were winning those big games, it was always really defensive. Maybe they have a little more talent than us, so I think it makes sense that we want to play a defensive game, a low-risk game, a low-event game.
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“That’s our identity. That’s how we play. We haven’t done that so far, but we’re going to stick to it.”
New York has been able to take advantage of its opportunities and then sit back and defend with little concern Washington is going to be able to generate enough offense to get back in the game. Playing with a lead is important to every team, but it’s particularly important for these Capitals, and they’ve held a lead for just 3 minutes 21 seconds.
“Obviously, you get frustrated,” Lapierre said. “I think everyone playing hockey gets frustrated from time to time. It’s really cliché, but you just have to stick to the process. We have a game plan we’re trying to do. Obviously, right now we’re not getting the results we want, but we’re trusting the process. We’re trusting that everyone’s going to do a job. We’ve got a long way ahead of us, but we’re going to start with [Sunday] and just work our way back.”
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Washington’s margin for error, as it has been for months, is razor thin. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren helped drag the Capitals to this point with his performance down the stretch; in his first Stanley Cup playoffs, he has been solid but not the superhero Washington requires. The power play, which was the best in the league from the all-star break to the end of the regular season, has sputtered, and the penalty kill has fallen short in critical moments.
“The way we found ways to win those type of games in the regular season, we did something that put us over the hump,” Carbery said Saturday. “Whether it was a goaltending performance, whether it was maybe special teams just put us over and we’d win that game, 2-1. These [last] two games, where the margins are very thin, we haven’t got those two things. That’s where you end up on the wrong side of these situations. … Those little areas, us not being able to grab hold of one of those, is costing us potentially winning games.”
For the Capitals to stave off elimination in Game 4, they’re going to need to find a way to execute another one of those games. The model that got them into the playoffs will be required to keep them there.
“We’re not going to pretend to not know the situation, the scenario, without there being a tomorrow,” Carbery said. “But I also know this group and have learned that in these situations, you know what you’re going to get from your entire group. That’s what I expect to see.”
Banged-up blue line
Defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, who left Friday’s game with an upper-body injury after a hit from the Rangers’ Matt Rempe, didn’t skate Saturday and has been ruled out for Game 4. Vincent Iorio, who suffered an upper-body injury in Game 1, skated in a noncontact jersey.
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Rasmus Sandin and Nick Jensen practiced again in regular jerseys, but Carbery isn’t banking on either being available Sunday.
Matt Rempe was called for interference on this hit against Trevor Van Riemsdyk pic.twitter.com/hg5XP2OAMX
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 26, 2024
“They’ve been out so long now that it’s just, if they’re able to go tomorrow, great, and we’ll get them right back in there,” Carbery said. “If they can’t, we’ll just stay with the status quo.”
Hardy Haman Aktell is the next man up after van Riemsdyk’s injury. Washington has just one more defenseman on an NHL contract in the organization — Chase Priskie, who spent this season with Hershey in the American Hockey League. Carbery said Saturday there weren’t plans to call up Priskie “at the moment.”
