Washington Capitals To Miss Playoffs For First Time Since 2023, Express Disappointment
On April 13, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout, scoring 2 standings points and clinching the last Metropolitan Division spot in the NHL playoffs. That eliminates the Washington Capitals from the postseason, as well as the Columbus Blue Jackets, who the Capitals play tonight.
Flyers Beat Hurricanes For the Playoffs
The Flyers played a short-handed Hurricane team, and Tyson Forester was the only player to score in nine shootout rounds to clinch the win for Philadelphia. Matvei Michkov and Trevor Zegras also scored for the Flyers, while for the Hurricanes, Nikolaj Ehlers and Bradly Nadeau scored. Both goalies made 20+ saves, and it was a high-quality game all around.
The Hurricanes have 111 standings points, enough to not only make the playoffs and win the Metropolitan Division but also lead the conference. Along with the Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins make it out of the Metropolitan Division. From the Atlantic Division, the Buffalo Sabres, Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, and Ottawa Senators also qualify for the playoffs.
The Capitals’ Early-Season Success Fades
At the beginning of the season, in November, the Capitals were sitting in first place. However, they lost a few players for significant stretches to injury and started dropping games to lower-ranked teams. Pierre-Luc Dubois, Ryan Leonard, and Tom Wilson all missed many games due to their health issues, and while they are all back and playing well, the damage was done.
By the time March rolled around, the Capitals were taking bad losses to teams well out of playoff contention, countered by big wins over qualified teams. For example, on April 3, they lost 7-3 to the New Jersey Devils. Two days later, on April 5, they beat the already playoff-bound Sabres 6-2. That pattern played out through the last two months, and at the end of the day, the more consistent Flyers were able to pull ahead.
That said, March and April were certainly an improvement from December and January. The Caps posted the 9th-best points percentage in the NHL and recorded a 13-7-2 record over the last 22 games of the season.
The Capitals React To Missing the Playoffs
The Capitals watched the Flyers clinch a berth on April 14 and spoke to the press afterwards.
Dylan Strome, who had a strong season, said that he was upset by missing out. “You’re not going to get to play the fun hockey, I guess they call it. Just disappointing obviously, and sucks that it had to end that way. We put ourselves in the position where this is what it came down to and it obviously sucks that it ends that way just based on the way we were playing recently, so it stings for sure.”
Tom Wilson also expressed his disappointment. He was part of the 2018 team that won the Stanley Cup. “I thought we were playing really good hockey the last month or two and feeling good about our game and made a really good push to try and get in,” he said.
Head Coach Spencer Carbery, who won the Jack Adams Award last year after a regular-season win in the Metro Division and a trip to the second round of the playoffs, said that he was distressed by the elimination. “You’re in a little bit of shock and just, like you said, extremely, extremely disappointed of not being able to play in the playoffs. That’s as simply put as I can make it. There’s no way to make it sound any better than it is.”
Ovechkin’s Last Season?
The playoff elimination hits hard for Alex Ovechkin, the NHL legend who is potentially in his last season. He has said that he will speak with his family and announce his decision over the summer. This also means that the energy tonight against the Blue Jackets will be intense, as it is potentially Ovechkin’s last career game. Despite not being close to his prime, Ovechkin has still scored 32 goals and 63 points this season.
Ovechkin is the NHL record holder in career combined goals with 1,006. He has potentially just one more opportunity to add to that total. He is also in the top 10 in several other categories, cementing himself as an NHL legend, whatever he decides to do this summer. The Capitals will try their best to end their 2025-2026 season on a high note against the Blue Jackets, despite their disappointment at being out of the playoffs.
