‘Overwhelmed’ Capitals reflect on loss to Hurricanes, postseason exit after milestone season

The Capitals’ 50th season didn’t end how they wanted; the top seed in the Eastern Conference was unceremoniously eliminated in five games by the Carolina Hurricanes. But players, including captain Alex Ovechkin, struck a bittersweet tone this weekend as they moved past the loss.

The series ended with a 3-1 loss in Thursday’s Game 5, though most Capitals focused on the season at large. Ovechkin passed Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer. New additions like center Pierre-Luc Dubois and goaltender Logan Thompson cemented themselves as foundational pieces.

According to players, the future, despite Ovechkin’s advanced age and the postseason disappointment, is bright.

“It’s been a great year for myself, for the organization, for the team. It was fun, fun moment,” Ovechkin said on Saturday. “Obviously it sucks when you lose in the playoffs, but I think the experience that we have this year is going to help us to grow and to be better next year.”

The 39-year-old confirmed that he would return for at least one more season, playing out the five-year, $47.5 million deal he signed in 2021.

Ovechkin kept his next objectives simple after breaking the NHL goals record this season.

“For me, it’s first of all to make a roster when 40 years old, you know? I have to pass skating test,” he said. “It’s one thing, and then we’ll see.”

Still, like most of his Capitals teammates, the Russian spent the weekend thinking about what went wrong against the Hurricanes.

The regular season was so promising. Washington was the first team to clinch a postseason berth, powered by Ovechkin on offense and Thompson in net.

That momentum carried them through a first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens. It fell apart.

The Capitals were clearly outmatched throughout the second-round series. Washington’s offense failed to find a rhythm while Thompson and the defense struggled to hold up against Carolina’s shot-happy attack.

“I felt like in that second round, partially because of Carolina, we were overwhelmed in a lot of different situations where guys looked different in that moment,” coach Spencer Carbery said. “Carolina’s been through it.”

The Capitals, by comparison, were only getting their feet wet. Carbery pointed out that 11 Capitals played in their first second-round series this year. The Hurricanes made it to the second round in six of the last seven seasons.

“Just didn’t look like we were completely comfortable in that moment,” Carbery said. “If you peel back the onion and think about why that is, experience has a lot to do with that.”

Washington’s experience echoed a league-wide trend during this year’s playoffs. The Winnipeg Jets, who won the Presidents’ Trophy and earned the top seed in the Western Conference, were knocked out in the second round.

Before this year, the Jets hadn’t made it past the first round since 2021. Their second-round opponents, the Dallas Stars, had been there before. Dallas defeated Winnipeg in six games to reach its third consecutive Western Conference Finals.

The Stars will face the Edmonton Oilers, who racked up plenty of experience by reaching the Stanley Cup Final last season.

The Eastern Conference offers a similar story. The defending champion Florida Panthers marched through the first round and took a hard-fought series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who made their ninth consecutive postseason appearance, to a Game 7 on Sunday night.

“Hopefully we can lean on [this year’s playoff run] and it doesn’t take seven years to get back,” Carbery said, noting that the first-round triumph was Washington’s first playoff series win since 2018. “We can be more comfortable. Hopefully, we get back into those situations immediately.”

Turning a second-round exit into a potential Stanley Cup run will likely require further development from breakout stars like Dubois, Aliaksei Protas and rookie Ryan Leonard.

The Capitals rank near the bottom of the league with an estimated $8.6 million in cap space this offseason, according to PuckPedia. Progress will likely require another jump from players on the roster.

“I’ve got to prove that it wasn’t just an accident and got to stay consistent,” Protas said on Saturday. “That’s maybe the hardest thing in the NHL: to stay consistent, keep doing it and keep developing.”

This year’s Capitals cemented a spot in franchise history — they earned a top seed and defied preseason expectations while Ovechkin overcame a broken leg to set the goals record. Throughout the campaign, Washington’s players praised each other and the bond they built.

“To be honest, I don’t know what’s going to happen next year, who’s going to be on the team and who’s not,” Ovechkin said. “But that chemistry and the friendship that we have, it stays for life.”