Capitals must lean on veterans to survive series

Team has talent to dig out from rubble of Game 5 collapse, writes Samantha Pell.

SUNRISE, FLA. The Washington Capitals are a team packed full of veteran leaders with years of post-season experience. They are a team that has continued to preach patience and confidence through an up-and-down firstround series with the Florida Panthers.

At times in this series, Washington has managed to translate that experience and attitude to its play. But at others, it has lost sight of its blueprint to winning, looking lost and disconnected. Wednesday night's Game 5 provided clear examples of both.

After jumping out to a threegoal lead in the second period, the Capitals suffered a stunning collapse, allowing Florida to score five unanswered goals en route to a 5-3 loss at FLA Live Arena.

The Panthers lead the series, 3-2. Game 6 is Friday night in Washington.

“In the playoffs, it should be easier to keep playing the same way and getting pucks deep and all that,” Capitals winger T.J. Oshie said Wednesday night. “But yeah, this swings momentum.”

With the Capitals now on the brink of elimination, they will have to rely on their experienced leaders to be the best versions of themselves — essentially the opposite of what was on display for the latter half of Wednesday's contest.

Defenceman John Carlson made an error in Game 5 that led to a goal. Center Nicklas Backstrom clearly got beat on another Florida goal. Captain Alex Ovechkin — who scored 50 goals in the regular season — has only one in this series.

“There should be a lot of confidence from the things that we have done well in the series, the games that we have won, the times that we played well,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said Thursday morning. “But you really have to work for a clean game against a team like Florida, who's dynamic with what they do. Those will be the points of emphasis moving forward.”

Oshie, despite a turnover before Florida's first goal Wednesday, is playing at a high level, notching five goals in five games. He had two in Game 5, the first a power play deflection that put the Caps up 1-0. The second was off an odd-man rush with centre Evgeny Kuznetsov in the second period that gave the Capitals a 3-0 lead.

“We have to shake this one off,” Oshie said. “I think we're still showing ourselves how we have to play and creating chances, creating offence, keeping their offence in check. We keep getting away from it. We have to reset here.”

Wednesday night's collapse came days after a deflating Game 4 loss, in which Garnet Hathaway barely missed the mark on what would have been a late empty-net goal. Goaltender Ilya Samsonov was also exceptional in that game, which should have allowed the Capitals to steal one on a night when they were not at their best. Instead, it was the Panthers who stole the momentum.

“Obviously you don't want to be down 3-2 (in the series), especially when we felt like we had a chance to go up 3-1 in the last game,” Oshie said. “You just have to regroup. We've got a veteran group in there, a bunch of guys with a lot of great character. We'll be a little pissed off here tonight. Wake up tomorrow, head home and get back to work.”

Washington now faces an uphill battle to get out of the first round. The Capitals have not won consecutive post-season games since the first two games of their 2019 first-round playoff series against Carolina. They went on to lose that series in seven games.

The Capitals will likely again be without injured forward Tom Wilson Friday. Wilson, who has not played or even skated with the team since suffering a lower-body injury early in Game 1, is still listed as day-to-day, Laviolette said Thursday.

The Capitals have shown the ability to control the pace of play and shut down Florida's attack. But Washington cannot afford to play one type of game to start, then stumble with the finish line in sight.

“We have to take care of things against a high-powered team that scored a lot of goals this year,” Laviolette said. “So when we're on it, we do a better job inside the game. When we're not on it, then that's when they get their looks and they get their opportunities ... it's a constant reminder that we always have to think about the defensive side of things.”