Washington Capitals: What is takes to start round one of the playoffs on the right foot

WASHINGTON (7News) — “Everyone. Every detail. Every day,” is the phrase painted in red and blue on the wall above the inside of the Washington Capitals locker room, serving as a reminder and a declaration to all athletes, as well as all coaches and support staff who come in and out of that room.

Now, as the Capitals prepare for what they hope is a run for a chance to lift the Stanley Cup over their heads in June, that phrase means even more.

With the Great Chase over now that Alexander Ovechkin has broken the all-time goal record, the team’s focus is on the postseason.

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“We’re glad for him, and now we can put everything into pushing for the playoffs and then going from there,” said Capitals defenseman Matt Roy.

The Capitals have won only four of their last ten games, with five of those losses coming on the road. They have only one more chance to figure things out before the playoffs begin.

“We have to understand how we have to play,” said Captain Alexander Ovechkin.

For many of the Capitals, they do understand how to play in the playoffs. On the active roster, twenty players have playoff experience, six of whom have won a Stanley Cup, while only three have never had playoff experience. Of the three who don’t have playoff experience, Ryan Leonard and Ethan Frank are in their first NHL seasons, while Jakob Chychrun has been in the league, but his two previous teams have just missed making the postseason.

So, it’s not necessarily a question of learning how to play, but getting back in that headspace, and Tom Wilson believes Ovechkin’s chase has actually given them a taste of the energy to expect.

“I think all this energy is good and it has kind of a playoff atmosphere these days when you’re walking around cause of what O’s (Ovechkin) done.”

While the Capitals missed the playoffs in the 2023 season, they had made eight straight before that, including the year that they won the Cup in 2018. In that cup run, they had a 49-26-7 record going into the playoffs, and the Capitals currently sit 51-21-9.

With minimal time to prepare before playoffs begin, Washington has been taking individual ownership and accountability to try and change some things before round one. The player leading the charge is goaltender Charlie Lindgren.

Lindgren has been playing in almost every game over the past two weeks, while Logan Thompson has been out with an upper-body injury. With an unknown return date for Thompson, Lindgren has been preparing to be ready to go for however long his team needs him in the playoffs.

“I don’t like letting in three goals every single game,” said Lindgren. “Just trying to figure out ways to work on my game and better myself because as we know, goaltending in the playoffs goes a long way and I wanna make sure I’m doing my job and I’m doing the best I can in that situation as possible.”

The team will have a couple of days to rest and refocus after this week ends, so hopefully the time will allow the Capitals to clean up a few things and come out strong in round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Capitals finish their season on the road, facing the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 7 p.m. puck drop.