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Alex Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals were the first team to be eliminated from the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs after losing Game 4 at home to the New York Rangers on Sunday night. Despite fighting to the end, the Caps lost to a much-superior Blueshirts team, who won the President’s Trophy and are eyeing a first Stanley Cup in three decades.
For Ovechkin’s club, it’s another disheartening postseason exit. And The Great Eight — who confirmed he was healthy for all four games — was ready to face the music after the 4-2 defeat.
“It’s always tough to lose a series. We had pretty good chances. We just didn’t score. Our line didn’t score lots of goals,” the veteran said afterwards, according to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “Blame me. I didn’t play well.”
Ovechkin certainly didn’t bring his best self to the series — not by a long shot. The 38-year-old was held without a point in a postseason series for the first time in his career, and that was the dagger for a Capitals team that just couldn’t match up against the powerhouse Rangers.
“His five shots on goal were also a career postseason low: While Ovechkin was tied for 19th in the regular season in shots on goal (272), he failed to register a shot in Games 1 and 4 against the Rangers,” wrote Wyshynski.
No. 8 is usually effective for Washington in the playoffs, but that just wasn’t the case in 2024. And the team was unable to overcome his struggles in the sweep. One place where that was glaringly obvious was on the power play, a man advantage that went 0-for-8 at home and just 2-for-17 in the series.
“The power play is such a big part of it, when it’s struggling and [Ovechkin’s] not getting opportunities,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said. “They checked him so tightly over there that every time he gets the puck, he has a half second to make a play and there’s usually a stick and some shin pads on it. I think that played a major role for him in this series.”
How long does The Great Eight have left?
After the disappointing home defeat, the Capitals will face another offseason full of questions. At the least, they were able to make the postseason, something the organization failed to do altogether in 2023.
Still, Ovechkin’s future will be one of the main storylines this summer, especially as he played just 15:26 in Game 4. How much longer does the most prolific scorer in NHL history have left?
“I think that this year, leaning on him down the stretch the second half of the year, he did an incredible job finding his game,” Carbery said of his best player.
“We were so scoring challenged all season long. In the second half [after the trade deadline] it was even more of a challenge. That was a lot, the second half of the year. Especially the last two weeks where every game felt like life and death for our team. I felt like that took a lot out of him physically and mentally heading into the playoffs.”
Ovechkin was excellent down the stretch for Washington, scoring 13 goals in his last 17 games and somehow helping will a minus-37 squad into the postseason.
As he approaches his 20th season in the NHL, Ovechkin continues to chase Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record of 894. That should keep him occupied for a few more years, but it’s certainly safe to wonder whether this could be the last time we see the generational talent in the playoffs.
“I hope I’m still going to get a couple more chances,” said the Stanley Cup champion.
More must-reads:
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