It’s difficult to imagine a more ignominious ending to a season than the Washington Capitals’ on Thursday night.
In a must win Game 5, the Caps were no shows to the match, a game they lost 4-0 to the New York Islanders, and were never even that close.
“I think looking back at our time here in Toronto, for whatever reason our team wasn’t able to mentally and physically get to our game for long enough,” Washington head coach Todd Reirden said. “We had one game where we did it and then, other than that, we weren’t able to find the game that gives us the best chance to have success. That’s going to be something that we’ll be reassessing and looking at this whole process.
“It’s a first time going through something like this. It’s a different mental and physical challenge. It’s important that we step away and reassess everything because this is not acceptable for our organization.”
Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves for the shut out.
“Those guys are champions in my mind, they always will be,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said of the Capitals. “It was one of those series where as a coach when you go through a series like that where you’ve had some success with a group of guys, it tears you a little bit because there’s so many good memories.
“But at the same time, you work for someone else and you want to beat that group, just because we’re competitive. We don’t want to lose.”
Anthony Beauvillier struck for goals in the first and second periods for all the offense the Isles were really need.
“I’m just trying to go out there and play your best and help your team to win,” Beauvillier said. “That’s kind of my main focus these last couple of weeks, and it’s been working. It’s going to be the same focus moving on. It’s really not something I’m going to think about.”
The Caps were a non factor in this game and skated as though their bubble was about to burst and they needed to get out of town.
The Isles scored two empty net goals in the final minutes with Nick Leddy potting the first at 17:47 of the third and Josh Bailey at 18:31.
“It’s a great win for us, we’re obviously happy to move on,” Bailey said. “You turn the page. We’ll enjoy it tonight, but I think everyone realizes there’s still a long way to go. We’re going to have a tough opponent, no matter who it is.”
[WATCH: All Islanders vs. Capitals highlights]
Braden Holtby made 13 saves in the loss.
“The mistakes that we did the first couple games cost us,” the Caps’ Alex Ovechkin said. “But we tried to come back. … Obviously, every time you lose a series, it’s tough. But the mistake we made in the previous games obviously cost us the series, and it’s tough. But there’s nothing you can do right now but move on.”
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