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Suppressed by the wreaking blow-horn that sounded sudden death, the Washington Capitals were stone cold in the throes of a welter, placed on center stage of another haunted ending.
Braden Holtby laid flat on his stomach, mask buried in the ice of another one that got away.
With Terrible Towel knockoffs and beer cans being poured down from the yellow crowd, the Penguins bench stormed onto the ice — some to bear hug goaltender Matt Murray, while the rest took over the far right corner of Consol Energy Center, celebrating a trip to the conference finals.
Flaring his nostrils in agony of another empty, underwhelming season, Alex Ovechkin unstrapped his helmet on the Capitals bench and watched from the jumbotron that hung in the rafters.
steph on Twitter
i’m sorry. this seriously breaks my heart https://t.co/o2nfB38NId
They said it would be different. Vegas dubbed them as favorites. And Ovechkin said this was the year.
On Tuesday night, it all came crashing down for the Nation’s Capital when Nick Bonino netted the game winning goal six minutes and 32 seconds into overtime off a rebound to launch Pittsburgh into the Eastern Conference finals against Tampa Bay.
Fifty six wins, most in franchise history, wiped away with one moment.
Twenty six times they have qualified for the playoffs since established in 1974, and only twice, 1990 and 1998, have they made it past the second round.
I’m supposed to be unbiased with whatever I analyze — given I aspire to be a professional sports journalist, and this is my job — offering an authentic voice and color to the sporting world. Being a fan is not permitted.
But every sports journalist had aspirations planted because of a team they grew up adoring.
The Washington Capitals are mine.
I’d be an emotionless robot if I said it wasn’t wrenching, cruel, or depressing to witness.
The Capitals had every right to advance onto the Eastern Conference finals. And no, don’t describe it as choking, because it wasn’t.
Ask play-by-play announcer Joe Beninati, who gave this emotional message after Tuesday night’s loss.
It’s not like the Capitals were swept or played badly, like in years past that had the same result of packing up the shop and going home.
Throughout the Capitals-Penguins series, it was tied or within one goal 79.6 percent of the time, per Elias.
The shot differential was single-digits — 209 to 202 — in favor of Pittsburgh.
Faceoffs were separated by a bakers dozen — 238 to 225 — Pittsburgh.
The Capitals outhit (234 to 193), converted more power play goals (5 to 3), and had a better penalty kill (84.1 percent to 78.3 percent) than the Penguins.
And the goal differential was one, with Pittsburgh totaling 16 and Washington tallying 15 throughout the six games.
See, it’s not like they wallowed in the dumpsters. They had every right to be on the 4-2 winning end of the stick.
The turning point was Game 3, a game that the Capitals outhit, outshot (49 to 23), and thoroughly outplayed the Penguins.
Seven and a half minutes into the first frame, and two lucky bounces later, the Penguins gripped a firm lead at 2-0, then extended it to 3-0 at the end of the second.
A late comeback would fall short, and the Pens would cruise from there, taking a 2-1 series lead that pushed to 3-1 after Game 4.
The surging of 21 year old netminder Matt Murray justifies the Capitals playoff fate. Call me biased and bitter, but the turning point, Game 3, was an outlier.
I bet my house that no rookie goaltender will emerge out of nowhere again to stuff 47 of the 49 shots faced fired against him to single-handedly lead his team to a momentum-swinging playoff win.
But Murray did that, and it happened to come against the Capitals.
It’s a shipwrecked nightmare if you ask me.
I was raised as a diehard Capitals fan and to respectively despise the Penguins. Every other loyal Caps fan will rightfully agree with me.
The last time the Capitals played a postseason game past the second round, it was the Game 4 sweeping in the 1998 Stanley Cup. I was 2 years old. Do you think I remember that? Heck no.
All I know when it comes to the Washington Capitals is repetitive failure and misery.
steph on Twitter
have a heart, replay people https://t.co/lZ3Ajvwj1f
When Ovechkin, the all-time points leader in Capitals history, was drafted in 2004, an eluded Stanley Cup seemed destined.
It’s now been 11 years, and zero trips have been made to the conference finals.
A weighty goose egg still stains the Great Eight’s ledger as he continues to trudge forward on the back nine of his career.
In September, Ovechkin turns 31, and though genetics play a hand, streaks of gray now run through his jet-black hair.
Father time will inevitably win, and who knows how much longer Ovechkin can withhold his hallmark scoring ability accented with punishing hip-checks.
With Jaromir Jagr still holding his own in the biz at the age of 44, that means Ovechkin could have a ceiling of 13 more years. But Ovechkin does not play like Jagr, who carries such savviness that sent him to the 2016 NHL All-Star game being less than six years away from 50.
Ovie is rigorous and bruising. Playing beyond his upper 30’s seems unlikely.
What does the future hold? The good news is, the core is set to be back, but ages are climbing.
Ovechkin, Holtby (turning 27), Karl Alzner (turning 28), Nicklas Backstrom (turning 29), Jay Beagle (turning 31), John Carlson (turning 27), Evgeny Kuznetsov (turning 24), Matt Niskanan (turning 30), Brooks Orpik (turning 36), T.J. Oshie (turning 30), and Justin Williams (turning 35) are all under contract for the 2016-2017 season.
Other key contributors, Jason Chimera (turning 38), Marcus Johansson (turning 26), Dmitry Orlov (turning 25), Mike Richards (turning 32), Mike Weber (turning 29), and Tom Wilson (turning 23) are all set to be free agents.
Who knows how much longer this group, that produced the most wins in franchise history, will be together for.
For the Capitals, Tuesday night ended with a script far too many have seen before — a melancholy single-file line of handshake sendoffs, congratulating the team that tarnished Stanley Cup aspirations yet again.
Until next year, Caps fans.
