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ARLINGTON, Va. — Alex Ovechkin finished practice by replicating his belly-flop celebration from scoring the record-breaking 895th goal of his NHL career, delighting the 895 schoolchildren and other Washington Capitals fans in attendance.

The previous 45 minutes — and the next several days — are about getting back to work.

Ovechkin and the Capitals got back on the ice Wednesday, 72 hours after he broke Wayne Gretzky’s record to end the “GR8 Chase” and set in motion several nights of celebrations. They had such a comfortable lead atop their division and the Eastern Conference that the past month has been all about getting Ovechkin the record, but that coincided with a dip in play that can’t continue with the playoffs fast approaching.

“Guys, whether they want to admit it or not, and whether I want to admit it and acknowledge it or not, as much as I want to block it out, as much as I want to say, ‘No, we’re strictly focused on the Winnipeg Jets, the Minnesota Wild,’ whatever the opponent was — it’s impossible to block the record and what was going on inside of the games out,” coach Spencer Carbery said.

“That’s going to be our biggest challenge coming off of such a unique, thrilling experience celebrating that achievement and now having to completely reset mentally and focus on the task at hand of playing well as a team and making sure that we’re putting ourselves in the best position possible to play well in the playoffs.”

Washington was the league’s first team to clinch a playoff berth this season, wrapped up first in the Metropolitan Division with Carolina’s loss Tuesday night and is close to shoring up home-ice advantage until at least the Stanley Cup Final.

The Capitals ranked second in the NHL in goals allowed through 64 games, giving up an average of 2.54. Over the past 13, they’re 24th at 3.38 a game.

“We just need to be really sharp in our details,” defenseman Martin Fehervary said. “I think that’s a key: Don’t give up too many chances. We obviously can score the goals, but we need to be sharper in our D-zone.”

Goaltender Charlie Lindgren, who is shouldering the starting load with Logan Thompson injured, criticized himself for allowing so many goals. But so many of them came because of chaos in front of him, opposing odd-man rushes and a series of other mistakes by the skaters in front of him.

It’s not a coincidence they’ve lost five of their past seven games.

“Our team game slid a little bit,” veteran defenseman John Carlson said. “It’s a good point of the year where we can refocus ourselves and what we know it’s going to take. And whatever you want to say, I’m not blaming it on what we’ve been through and what we’re striving for, too, but I think everybody in here is smart enough to know that we’ve got to play a better brand of hockey.”

Washington has not won a playoff series since hoisting the Cup in 2018, and making a long run this spring is the next goal after 895.

“‘O’ even said it right after he scored that goal that the big games are still to come this year, and we’ve got a special group and you don’t want to waste years like this when things are going well,” defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk said.

“It happened at a perfect time to a perfect guy, and now we have time to kind of refocus. I think our last few games definitely haven’t been our best, so it’s a nice time to kind of reset, focus and get dialed in before playoffs are here.”

After being in the spotlight for an individual achievement, Ovechkin is ready to get back to being team-first and winning.

“All that’s happened during the year is one thing, but in the playoffs it’s a total different season,” Ovechkin said. “It’s a total different energy level, pace. So, yeah, I think right now we have five games left and we just have to prepare for that time of year and we have to understand how we have to play.”

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Journalism opens as 8-5 favorite for Preakness

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Journalism opens as 8-5 favorite for Preakness

HALETHORPE, Md. — Journalism is the morning line favorite for the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes.

The Kentucky Derby runner-up to Sovereignty opened at odds of 8-5 on Monday night when post positions were drawn for the middle leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. Journalism is again set to be ridden by jockey Umberto Rispoli and leave the starting gate from the No. 2 post.

Post time is set for 7:01 p.m. EDT on Saturday.

No. 7 Sandman is the 4-1 second choice in the field of nine, which does not include Sovereignty after his owners and trainer decided not to run the Derby winner two weeks after his triumph at Churchill Downs. The Preakness goes on without a true shot at a Triple Crown winner for a fifth time in seven years since Justify swept all three races in 2018.

Bob Baffert, who trained Justify and 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, is entering Goal Oriented looking for a record-extending ninth victory in the race. Fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas can tie Baffert if he wins the Preakness back-to-back, this time with American Promise a year after Seize the Grey ended Mystik Dan’s Triple Crown bid.

There are three Derby horses running in the $2 million Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore: Journalism, American Promise and Sandman, the latter of whom will be ridden by John Velazquez for trainer Mark Casse. American Promise drew the No. 3 post and opened at odds of 15-1.

New to the Triple Crown trail, along with No. 1 Goal Oriented (6-1), are No. 4 Heart of Honor (12-1), No. 5 Pay Billy (20-1), No. 6 River Thames (9-2), No. 8 Clever Again (5-1) and No. 9 Gosger (20-1).

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U.S. shut out by Switzerland at hockey worlds

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U.S. shut out by Switzerland at hockey worlds

HERNING, Denmark — Switzerland, last year’s runner-up, shut out the United States 3-0 and handed the Americans their first loss at the ice hockey world championship Monday.

Damien Riat, Jonas Siegenthaler and Dean Kukan scored in the Group B game in Herning. Netminder Leonardo Genoni stopped 23 shots for the shutout.

“Give credit to Switzerland,” U.S. coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “But I know our group has a lot more in them. We’ll regroup and get ready to play Norway.”

Riat put Switzerland ahead with 7:14 remaining in the first period, redirecting the puck into the goal from the air. It was the first goal the U.S. conceded at the tournament.

The second followed 3:13 later by Siegenthaler from the blue line. Kukan’s came halfway through the final period from the top of the left circle.

“After the first goal we did a better job,” Swiss forward Kevin Fiala said. “We got into it more and more, and shut them out.”

Fiala recorded an assist in his first game at the worlds. He joined the Swiss late after his Los Angeles Kings were eliminated from the NHL playoffs in the first round.

U.S. goalie Joey Daccord made 24 saves.

The U.S., which beat Denmark 5-0 and Hungary 6-0 in its first two games, will next face Norway on Wednesday.

In other games, Martin Necas had two goals and David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists as the defending champion Czech Republic used a four-goal middle period to ease past Denmark 7-2.

Nick Olesen also had a goal and an assist for Denmark.

In Stockholm, Sweden topped archrival Finland 2-1 on goals from Leo Carlsson and Jonas Brodin for a third victory in regulation from three games.

Austria defeated Slovakia 3-2 in a penalty shootout.

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Leafs’ Domi fined $5K for hit to Panthers’ Barkov

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Leafs' Domi fined K for hit to Panthers' Barkov

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Max Domi was fined $5,000 — the maximum amount allowed by the league’s collective bargaining agreement — for boarding Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov as time expired in Game 4 of their second-round Eastern Conference playoff series Sunday.

Toronto was trailing 2-0 when the final buzzer sounded, and Domi hit Barkov from behind, sending him headfirst into the boards. Domi was given a minor penalty for boarding at the time while several other scrums broke out before officials moved players off the ice.

Florida’s victory evened the best-of-seven series at 2-all. Game 5 is set for Wednesday in Toronto.

Toronto coach Craig Berube didn’t comment on the Domi hit directly Monday, but he did say he thought Dmitry Kulikov‘s hit on Mitch Marner “was way worse”

On that play, the Panthers defenseman caught Marner up high with an elbow, leaving the Leafs forward momentarily dazed. No penalty was called on Kulikov.

It wasn’t the first elbowing incident to draw attention in the series.

In Game 1, Panthers forward Sam Bennett sent an elbow to the head of Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz shortly before Stolarz left the game. He was later hospitalized for further evaluation and hasn’t been able to resume skating since. There is currently no timeline for his return.

The physical intensity of the series might continue to rise now that it’s down to being a best-of-three. Based on how Game 4 played out, the Leafs are prepared to push back when they host Florida on Wednesday.

“We expected [the physicality], and I think we’re fine with it,” Berube said. “We’re handling it. We’re physical. I thought we were the more physical team [in Game 4].”

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