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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.

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Betts (illness) out for Tokyo Series; lost 15 pounds

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Betts (illness) out for Tokyo Series; lost 15 pounds

TOKYO — Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts will not play in the two-game Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs because of an illness that has lingered for the past week.

Manager Dave Roberts said Monday that Betts is starting to feel better but has lost nearly 15 pounds and is still trying to get rehydrated and gain strength. Roberts added that the eight-time All-Star might fly back to the United States before the team in an effort to rest and prepare for the domestic opener on March 27.

The Cubs and Dodgers open the Major League Baseball season on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome. A second game is on Wednesday.

“He’s not going to play in these two games,” Roberts said. “When you’re dehydrated, that’s what opens a person up to soft tissue injuries. We’re very mindful of that.”

Roberts said Miguel Rojas will start at shortstop in Betts’ place for the two games at the Tokyo Dome.

Betts started suffering from flu-like symptoms at the team’s spring training home in Arizona the day before the team left for Japan. He still made the long plane trip but hasn’t recovered as quickly as hoped.

Roberts said if the team had known the illness would linger this long, Betts wouldn’t have traveled. Betts tried to go through a workout on Sunday but became tired quickly.

Betts is making the full-time transition to shortstop this season after playing most of his career in right field and second base. The 2018 AL MVP hit .289 with 19 homers and 75 RBIs last season, helping the Dodgers win the World Series.

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Berry gets first career Cup Series win at Vegas

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Berry gets first career Cup Series win at Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Josh Berry raced to the first Cup Series victory of his career, taking NASCAR’s oldest team to victory lane Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Berry, in his first season driving the famed No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing, had the first victory for a Ford team through five races this season. William Byron opened the year with a Daytona 500 victory in a Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in a Toyota won the next three races.

Berry, meanwhile, had to run down Daniel Suarez following a restart with 19 laps remaining to take control. Although Harrison Burton won at Daytona last summer for the Wood Brothers, Berry’s victory is the first not at a superspeedway since Ryan Blaney won for the team in 2017 at Pocono.

It was the 101st victory for the organization spanning 20 drivers.

Suarez in a Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing finished second, followed by Ryan Preece in a Ford for RFK Racing. Byron was fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, followed by Ross Chastain of Trackhouse, Austin Cindric of Team Penske and Alex Bowman of Hendrick.

AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing was eighth, and Hendrick drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.

Joey Logano had late control of the race until Las Vegas native Noah Gragson hit the wall with 25 laps remaining to bring out the ninth caution of the race. Berry was in second when the caution came out and second behind Suarez on the restart.

Berry won in his 53rd Cup race and just his fifth race with the Wood Brothers, the team that signed him when Stewart-Haas Racing shuttered at the end of last season.

The 34-year-old Tennessee driver was a 40-1 underdog to win Sunday’s race and his win put the Wood Brothers back into the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

Bell to the back

Bell came to Las Vegas on a three-race winning streak with an opportunity to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races.

But his chance to extend his streak was stymied when Joe Gibbs Racing had to change the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after Bell qualified 13th and the penalty dropped him to the back of the field for the start of the race.

He never recovered in what was an overall subpar day for the four-driver JGR contingent.

Bell, who complained about the handling of his car most of the race, finished a team-high 12th. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.

Chase Briscoe was 17th and Ty Gibbs, who rolled a sprint car Saturday night at the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finished 22nd. Denny Hamlin, winner of more than $200,000 over two nights of playing slots in the Las Vegas casino, couldn’t convert his luck to the track and finished 25th.

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The Cup Series races next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a track that had been in the playoff rotation the last three years but has now been moved to a spring race. Tyler Reddick won last October and Bell won in 2023.

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Bell to start at rear of field after prerace penalty

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Bell to start at rear of field after prerace penalty

LAS VEGAS — Christopher Bell will have to start from the back of the field in his attempt to win a fourth consecutive Cup Series race after NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.

Bell had been set to start 13th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he is trying to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races. But JGR changed the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after qualifying, resulting in Bell forfeiting his starting spot.

Bell came to Las Vegas coming off victories at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas in Texas and Phoenix. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972. Among those who have accomplished the feat, seven are in NASCAR’s Hall of Fame and six are Cup Series champions.

The drivers who have won four consecutive races in the modern era are Cale Yarborough in 1976, Darrell Waltrip in 1981, Dale Earnhardt in 1987, Harry Gant in 1981, Bill Elliott in 1992, Mark Martin in 1993, Jeff Gordon in 1998 and Johnson 18 years ago.

Bell’s three straight wins are the Cup Series’ longest 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.

His three wins this year tie his career-high victory tallies set in 2022 and matched in 2024. At Las Vegas, Bell has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. He was the runner-up in Vegas’ past two fall races.

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