Washington Capitals Didn’t Choke This Time Around

The Washington Capitals fell in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs once again, but this time around, it wasn’t a choke job.

The Washington Capitals and their fans were once again subjected to a round two defeat in the postseason. What made it worse was the fact that most people really believed that this year was different, and that this year a team that had constantly found a way to fail when it counted finally had “it.”

It might be an unpopular opinion among a fan base that has gone through this year after year, to the point where many doubt that their team will ever hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup, but this year was different. The Washington Capitals went down, but they went down swinging.

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Many will point to yet another Presidents’ Trophy to justify what people will call a collapse. In reality, the situation couldn’t have been more different.

The Washington Capitals also had the misfortune of running into quite possibly the best team in the league after their explosive second half of the season. The Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from the outside of the playoff picture to the second place spot in the Metropolitan Division in a matter of months, The newer format of the NHL postseason did not do the Capitals any favors either. Quite frankly, the match up between these two teams was worthy of nothing short of a conference finals showdown.

With that said, I believe that the only reason the Caps went down in the second round is because of who they faced. I would have to hear some really good arguments from some very knowledgeable people to sway my belief that the Capitals were one of maybe two teams in the entire league that can beat the Penguins in a seven game series at this point.

Most of the team’s best players showed up big time in these playoffs, and any individual that pushes the narrative that this loss is in any way on Alexander Ovechkin’s shoulders has absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

Ovechkin scored five goals and posted a point-per-game over two series’, and John Carlson continued his ascent into the conversation of the NHL’s elite defensemen by posting the same stat line as his captain.

Nicklas Backstrom only had two goals, but he did contribute 11 points over 12 games in the playoffs. While Evgeny Kuznetsov’s statistics aren’t pretty, he actually played pretty damn well in the postseason.

While the series eventually came down to bottom-six scoring, something that the Caps basically received none of, each and every game was extremely closely contested. The only game that wasn’t separated by one goal in the end was Washington’s 3-1 game five victory.