‘Struggling’ Ovechkin still pointless, Caps trail 2-0
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
NEW YORK — Washington Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said his star captain Alex Ovechkin is “struggling” in their opening round playoff series against the New York Rangers.
“I thought the first two games he looks a little bit off. He’s struggling. It’s hard. It’s the playoffs, on the road. He’s getting a tough matchup,” Carbery said after the Capitals’ 4-3 loss in Game 2 on Tuesday night to go down 2-0 in the series.
Ovechkin, 38, doesn’t have a point in the series. He registered his first and only shot on goal in Game 2. But it was his turnover on a power play that led to the Rangers’ eventual winning short-handed goal and was Ovechkin’s most glaring misstep in the loss.
With the Rangers leading 3-2, Ovechkin took a cross-ice pass from center Connor McMichael near the Capitals’ defensive zone. The puck hit the boards and as Ovechkin attempted to play it down the ice, Rangers center Mika Zibanejad stole it, finding defenseman K’Andre Miller for a short-handed goal with 3:09 left in the second period.
“It was a weird bounce,” Ovechkin said. “I think Zibanejad played stick-on-stick. It was lucky, but I have to play safer. Especially in that kind of moment.”
Carbery said it looked like Ovechkin was “surprised” by the defensive pressure after receiving the pass.
The Capitals coach said there are a few telltale signs for Ovechkin being off his game that Carbery has witnessed in the Rangers series.
“At 5-on-5 and the power play, he should get four or five looks on a nightly basis, whether they go in or not. He’s not getting those looks,” Carbery said. “Whether that’s a product of his matchup, whether that’s a product of his line combination, whether he’s playing a role in that [himself], we’ve got to find a way to get him in spots where it’s just him and [Igor] Shesterkin and he’s within the top of the circles.”
But Carbery also said that Ovechkin getting his shot blocked with frequency is indicative of his struggles. Ovechkin had his shot blocked five times in Game 1 and twice more in Game 2.
“That’s where I say, ‘OK, it’s off just a touch,'” the coach said.
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said that his team is “mindful” that Ovechkin is a difference-maker and that “we do our best to check him.” New York deployed top defensive pair Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren against Ovechkin in Game 2.
The Capitals return home for Game 3 on Friday night.
After a slow start, Ovechkin tallied 31 goals and had 34 assists in 79 games for the Capitals during his 19th NHL season. Carbery said he’s confident that Ovechkin will turn things around in the postseason.
“He can flip it. That’s one thing about him: He could flip it in one game and now he can all of a sudden be a difference-maker and help us win a game,” Carbery said. “He’ll be good. He’s been through so many situations like this. I expect him to step up big time.”
Game 2 was a penalty-laden contest that featured a combined 11 power plays, with both teams scoring twice with the man advantage. Some Washington players noted after the game that the officiating was all over the map on Tuesday night.
“It seemed like tonight it was stick penalties. They were letting a lot of the other stuff go, but it was anything with the stick they were calling,” forward Tom Wilson said. “It’s tough. You get new refs every game, you don’t know what’s going to be called what’s not, but it’s playoff hockey.”
Washington center Dylan Strome said the tight officiating started in Game 1.
“Guys are running around and trying to get some hits to get the legs going and they’re calling penalties right away, like lazy hooking penalties that they don’t even call on us in the regular season,” Strome said. “I mean, it is what it is. They’re trying to avoid skirmishes and scrums and we’ve got to be aware of that for Game 3.”
The most controversial officiating moment came in the third period, when Rangers star Artemi Panarin threw a check into Capitals winger T.J. Oshie. The officials reviewed the hit to see if Panarin had thrown an illegal check to the head, which would have resulted in a match penalty, and determined that the head wasn’t the main point of contact. Oshie left the game but returned to the bench later in the period.
Carbery said the only explanation he received from the officials was that Panarin hadn’t earned a minor penalty on the play either. The Capitals coach said he was asking the officials about Oshie having been pulled by the NHL concussion spotters and the Panarin hit not having been called for an illegal check to the head.
“To me, when the spotters remove a player, there has to be some type of contact with the head. So that’s where I was a little bit confused with him being removed by the spotters, and then there’s no penalty on the ice,” Carbery said.
Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell captured pole position for the seventh time in his career during Saturday’s qualifying session for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It’s the first pole for Spire, which has shown stark improvement with an infusion of cash brought by new majority owner Dan Towriss, who also controls Andretti Global in IndyCar and the Cadillac F1 team set to debut in 2026.
McDowell’s previous six poles all came during the 2024 season, his 17th in the Cup Series.
Christopher Bell qualified in 13th position but will start from the back of the field as he searches for a fourth consecutive win. NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.
He could become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup Series races — an accomplishment that only eight drivers have achieved in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.
Lackluster qualifying hasn’t been a deterrent for Bell thus far, as he started 19th before winning at Circuit of the Americas and 32nd before winning at Atlanta.
Joey Logano will start Sunday’s race alongside McDowell on the front of the grid, qualifying in the top two at Las Vegas for the third time in five races. Austin Cindric will start third, while Las Vegas native Kyle Busch starts in fourth.
Bell has received a congratulatory text message from Johnson after each win in this three-race streak, and he is hoping the seven-time NASCAR champion hits that send button again Sunday.
“It is still the coolest thing in the world to me that I have Jimmie Johnson in my phone,” Bell said. “He has talked to me, he has sent me a text message after every win so far. I’m still shocked every time I see his name pop up. I respect the heck out of him. It’s an honor to know that he thinks of me after the race to send a text message. That is so cool.”
Bell’s three straight wins is the Cup Series’ longest winning streak since Kyle Larson won three in a row twice in 2021, and Bell is the first to do it in NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was introduced in 2022.
The three wins this year tie his season-high set in 2022 and matched in 2024, and setting a new mark isn’t out of the question at Las Vegas, where he has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. Bell, in his No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was the runner-up in Vegas’ last two fall races.
He is not considering a fourth consecutive victory a lock, even as he has dominated the first month of the season.
“One thing is for sure: Nothing that has happened the last three weeks means anything for this week,” Bell said. “Everything is still ahead of me and nothing is set, and we have to go out there and perform. This has been a strong track for us in the past, but I’m just trying very hard to not get ahead of myself and understand it is a new week. It’s a different race, and everyone is going to be bringing their best stuff to try to beat me.”
Perhaps the greatest threat to end Bell’s hot streak is Larson, who has won at the “Diamond in the Desert” three times since joining Hendrick Motorsports. Larson’s first win with Hendrick came at Las Vegas in March 2021, and he has claimed two of the previous three races held at the track, winning the South Point 400 in October 2023 and the Pennzoil 400 in March 2024.
“I think since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, it’s probably been our best racetrack,” Larson said. “Getting a few wins, I think two other second-place finishes in that time has also been really good. The track is great, but getting to come to the city and have fun on the Strip and all the stuff that it has to offer, it probably makes it one of my three favorite races to get to.”
Logano is the most recent winner at Las Vegas, as his victory at the South Point 400 in October propelled him to his third NASCAR title.
The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.
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