The Washington Capitals saw their 2023-24 season end at the hands of a four-game series sweep by the New York Rangers on Sunday night. The team that everyone in the world wouldn’t shut up about not belonging in the playoffs probably did not belong in the playoffs.
Photo Russian Machine Never Breaks
We always knew that but only we can say that, right?
First things first, thanks for another year of reading these posts. I know many of you may have vehemently disagreed with a takeaway here or there along the way this season but I always appreciate the fact that you read it at all. I’m brainstorming maybe changing up how I do these next season. I’m sure the morning numbers will still continue on in some form but I can’t say it’s the most healthy thing in the world to be writing about a 6-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes at like 3 am and then getting up from a quick snooze to post it two hours later. Mind you, I set those timelines myself and could easily make the process less of a grind but I’m a crazy person. Anyway, to the stuff you’re actually here for.
Would you be surprised to hear that this was another game where the Capitals dominated the Rangers at five-on-five only to be burned by special teams play? Well, it was. They recorded 27 scoring chances at five-on-five to New York’s 13. Overall in the series, they held positive differentials at five-on-five in shot attempts (+14), scoring chances (+20), and high-danger chances (+9). That math feels like trying to put aloe vera on a third-degree burn right now but alas, it’s something.
If that was TJ Oshie’s final game as a member of the Washington Capitals, that’s a truly sad day in franchise history. If there was a Hall of Fame for good dudes, TJ would be a first-ballot member. What an absolute warrior, an icon of this club, a Stanley Cup champion, an Olympic hero, and a local legend. I know he makes his “real” home up in Minnesota but he’ll always have a home in this area. Oshbabe got over the 1,000-game milestone and scored his 300th career goal this year. All things considered from an on-the-ice and off-the-ice perspective, one of the greatest trades in the history of DC sports?
From a core member of the Cup-winning Capitals to the guy they drafted with their first-round pick just weeks after partying in those Georgetown fountains. Alex Alexeyev was straight-up phenomenal in this short series in a much larger role than he probably expected to play. Only John Carlson (74:34) and Martin Fehervary (70:10) played more than Alexeyev (64:13) at five-on-five and the Capitals dominated with Alexeyev on the ice, seeing 62.7 percent of the shot attempts, 76.8 percent of the expected goals, 70.7 percent of the scoring chances, and 81.8 percent of the high-danger chances.
Hendrix Lapierre scores his first career playoff goal to tie the score 2-2 in the second period. Lapierre is the third different Capital to score their first career postseason goal this series (also Connor McMichael and Martin Fehervary).
Photo Russian Machine Never Breaks
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 29, 2024
The Capitals were given a league-high 17 power play opportunities and managed to score on just two of them and gave up two shorthanded goals. They were only able to muster 14 total shots while up a man. I don’t think I need to elaborate much more on this bullet because all of that speaks for itself.
No goals and no points overall in a playoff series for Alex Ovechkin for the first time in his career. I’ll have a post with his quotes and a little more on that later today.
I’ll use this bullet as a shoutout to Dylan Strome and Charlie Lindgren for being my offensive and defensive MVPs of the season. Lindgren probably doesn’t love his performance in the playoff series but he’s also the sole reason the team even got to play playoff hockey. He finished with a 25-16-7 record, a 2.67 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage, and six shutouts this year. He’s quite literally robbed Darcy Kuemper of the starting role moving forward. And, Strome, another career-best season, 67 points (27g, 40a) from 82 games. Great stuff.
For those still in the mood for more hockey, the Hershey Bears are kicking off their attempt to repeat as Calder Cup champions on Wednesday against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Some familiar faces currently on the Capitals’ roster – Hendrix Lapierre, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Dylan McIlrath, Lucas Johansen, Vincent Iorio, Hardy Häman Aktell, and Mitch Gibson – will be shortly rejoining the Bears here for that run. Hershey went an absurd 53-14-5 this season, finishing with the second-best points percentage in AHL history.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
