All eras come to an end, and these two teams were the very best in it. Both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals have had their 8+ year playoff streaks ended with the NY Islanders clinching the 8th seed, thus ending one of the most exciting eras in NHL history.
Do you know when the last time the NHL playoffs did not feature either Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin? 2006!
For the first time since Nintendo released the first Wii console, Google bought YouTube, the US’ Venus Express first orbited around Venus, Italy won their 4th World Cup, and Oblivion was the latest entry in the Elder Scroll Series, the NHL playoffs will not feature either one of the last two decades biggest stars: the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby and the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin.
These two players, guiding their, respective, teams, have truly been the exemplary model for what a successful NHL superstar looks like as they have won a combined 5 Hart Trophies, 6 Ted Lindsay awards, 3 Art Ross trophies, 11 Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophies, 20 All-Star selections, 1 Calder trophy (Ovechkin in 2005/06), 3 Conn Smyth trophies, 4 Stanley Cup wins, and both were named to the NHL’s 100th Anniversary team.
Oh, and they also have combined for 1,372 goals, 1,612 assists, and 2,984 points with many more on the way as Crosby is only 35 and Ovechkin is 37. Simply put, these two are obviously the greatest players to have grace the ice since their debuts in the league in 2006.
Yet, even with all of their accolades, success, awards, points, and Stanley Cup wins, Crosby and Ovechkin were unable to ward off the overbearing influence of Father Time and Mother Nature on their once-great teams as both the Capitals and Penguins have officially been eliminated from Stanely Cup playoff contention.
The Capitals really fell off this season as even though Ovechkin was able to score 42 goals, 32 assists for 74 PTS in just 72 games, the Capitals fell from 8th in the East last year to 13th this season with a torrid record of 35-37-9.
The Capitals were always the more brittle giant than the Penguins, so it makes sense that the numerous injuries to key players (ex: Nicklas Backstrom: 44 games missed; T.J. Oshie: 24 games missed; John Carlson: 43 games missed; Tom Wilson: 50 games missed; Dmitry Orlov: traded away at deadline; Garnet Hathaway: traded away at deadline; Connor Brown: 78 games missed; Anthony Mantha: 15 games missed) really derailed their season.
As you can see, eight key players have either been traded away for draft capital or have missed at least 15 games in the season, which is the biggest reason why the Capitals offensive stats have plummeted. Last year, the Caps were the 5th highest scoring team in the East (275 GF) and conceded the 7th least number of goals (245 GA) for the 7th best GD (30) in the Eastern Conference.
This year, the Capitals are only the 9th highest scoring ream in the East (251 GF), yet they have only conceded the 8th least number of goals (260 GA) to have the 10th worst GD with a -9. Clearly, the loss of so many offensive players to age and injury broke this team beyond anything Ovechkin’s greatness could repair.
The Penguins, however, really only have themselves to blame for missing the playoffs.
All the Pens had to do to stay in contention on the final game of the season was defeat the joint-31st ranked Chicago Blackhawks, who had a 25-49-6 record for an abysmal 56 PTS, at PPG Paints Arena (their home ice) Tuesday night. Yet, just as the Penguins have done all season long, they laid an absolute dud of a performance as they got beaten 5-2 by the Blackhawks, allowing the Islanders to steal their playoff dreams right out from under them.
Sure, the Penguins had nearly 40 shots and Blackhawks goalie Petyr Mrazek had a monster performance with 36 saves and a .947 SV%, but this result can’t happen if the Penguins wanted to be in the playoffs. Truly, the Penguins looked like an old, worn-out team against a much younger, hungrier (even if less talented) Blackhawks side.
The Blackhawks had 30 hits to the Penguins 20, 6 takeaways to the Penguins 4, only 9 giveaways to the Penguins 14, and an astonishing 26 blocked shots to the Penguins paltry 6. I’m not going to say the Blackhawks wanted it more as that would be offensive to this group of Penguins players, but Chicago definitely sacrificed more than the Penguins in that game.
And that’s why they won and broke the Penguins’ 16-year playoff streak, which was the oldest across the four major North American sports.
Unfortunately for Caps fans, I think this is the last time we’ll see an Alex Ovechkin-lead Capitals team make the playoffs under the current circumstances and roster makeup. The team is just too brittle and broken to earn 42+ wins and 95+ points to break into the playoff threshold.
Thankfully, for Pittsburgh fans, I’m don’t think this will be the last time we see a Sidney Crosby-led Penguins team make the playoffs as the right additions and subtractions (aka: getting rid of the decrepit dead wood) should see this team make one final playoff run next year.
That is, so long as GM Ron Hextall, who sold his soul as a Flyers legend to become the Penguins GM, gets the boot the moment the final whistle against Columbus is blown to close out their season tonight.
But, if last year was the last time we see these two outstanding players make the playoffs on their historic teams, then it was a privilege. Crosby and Ovechkin revolutionized hockey in the modern world and attracted millions of new fans, both domestic and international, to the NHL and the game of hockey with their brilliance.
I won’t say thank you yet to these two greats as they still could make the playoffs again, but I will leave this article off with a sincere, written applause (I am clapping in front of my computer screen) for the greatness we have had a privilege watching these last 16 years.
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