With goal chase in the rear-view, Ovechkin and Caps get ready for playoffs

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — 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 all 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. But that is thanks more to what the team did in the first five-plus months of the season than recent weeks.

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's 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.”

Going all out to help Ovechkin, the longtime captain and face of the franchise, break what was considered one of hockey's more untouchable records was more than understandable. Gretzky's mark had stood for 31 years since he passed Gordie Howe, and 17 Capitals players were not alive when that happened.

But Washington also 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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