Caps out in first round for fourth time since winning Cup in 2018

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin thinks it's pretty messed up that the Washington Capitals haven't won a playoff series since hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2018.

This time, they have only themselves to blame.

“We have it, but we just blow it away,” Ovechkin said Friday night after his team's Game 6 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers. “It is on us.”

There were ready-made excuses before, from coaching deficiencies in 2019 and 2020 to a barrage of injuries in 2021. Ovechkin may not have been 100% healthy this spring after injuring his left shoulder late in the regular season, but the star forward and the Capitals embraced the mentality, “No excuses,” and the mantra was even printed on their playoff gear.

After going up 1-0 and 2-1 in the first-round series and holding leads in each of the final three games, there were no excuses for another early exit.

“The last couple of years we’ve been down, and teams have kind of had their way with us a little bit,” said winger T.J. Oshie, who had six goals and was Washington's best player in the series. “I don’t think the all-in aspect was quite there in the last couple years. This year, I think we were extremely close to being 100% everyone on board, and we let three games get away from us. In playoffs, the margin of error is so small.”

The Capitals are far from the only team to learn that tough lesson about the margin of error in playoff hockey, though this was a particularly cruel case against the NHL's best regular-season team and highest-scoring offense.

They allowed Florida to tie Game 4 in the final minutes and went on to lose in overtime. They blew a 3-0 lead at Florida in Game 5 to fall behind in the series. And they again let the Panthers come from behind to win Game 6 and