What Went Wrong: Capitals Eliminated in Five Games by Bruins

On Sunday, the Washington Capitals lost Game Five of their East Division Semifinal series against the Boston Bruins, doing so by a score of 3-1. The loss gave the Capitals their third straight first round exit since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018, following a seven-game loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2019, and a five-game loss to the New York Islanders in 2020.

So what exactly went wrong for the Capitals? Well, they spent a good bit of the season dominating the East Division...until they didn't. Throughout the season, the Capitals led the division by a decent margin over the Penguins and Islanders, but the tail end of the regular season saw them lose their stranglehold. The Capitals clinched a playoff spot on April 29 in a game against the Penguins that saw both of them officially get in, but Washington ended up losing that game, and two more key losses to Pittsburgh resulted in the Capitals losing their division lead. Once the Penguins locked up first place, the Capitals had to face off against a Bruins team that ended the regular season on a winning tear, as they went from fifth place to third in a matter of a few weeks.

Unlike the Avalanche/Blues series, which ended in a sweep and was completely one-sided, the Capitals/Bruins series was a close one, as the Bruins outscored the Capitals 16-10 and three of the games needed overtime. The Capitals won Game One with Nic Dowd's tip-in goal in OT, but that's where it ended. Their inability to hold or add on to late leads was their outdoing in Games Two and Three, as well as poor defense and a terrible turnover by Ilya Samsonov in Game Three. In Games Four and Five, Boston was just too much for the Caps, outscoring Washington 7-2 in the two games played.

Four points led the Capitals in the series, with Alex Ovechkin (2G/2A) and T.J. Oshie (G/3A) each racking up that very total. Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway also had two goals each, but Anthony Mantha (who was acquired from the Red Wings in a deadline deal) couldn't find the net in the playoffs, nor did Nicklas Backstrom. In net, Ilya Samsonov started three of the five games, but lost all of them and racked up a 2.99 GAA, as well as a .899 Sv%. It was 40-year-old Craig Anderson who picked up Washington's only win, doing so in relief following Vitek Vanacek's injury in Game One. Anderson went 1-1 and racked up a 2.68 GAA, as well as a SV% of .929. The lack of production from their top forwards proved to be their downfall, especially since Boston's top players were scoring goals and getting points left and right.

The Capitals will return to the Metropolitan Division next season, which isn't that different from this year's East Division. The good news: instead of Boston, they'll have Columbus. The bad news: instead of Buffalo, they'll have Carolina. In any event, the Capitals should and will continue to be one of the top teams in that Metropolitan Division; however, the Penguins seem to be improving. Also, the centerpiece will be Ovechkin's quest for history, as he climbs up the career goal-scoring list. Ovechkin ended this season with 730 career goals, which is sixth all time and one away from Marcel Dionne. If he scores his usual 40-50 goals next season, he'll move up to the top 3, and that's where the chase will be interesting.

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