“We knew we make the playoffs and just decided to take a rest,” Ovechkin stated.
Ovechkin skated at Sunday’s staff follow at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. He took full reps and has been skating with the staff since Thursday morning in New York. He didn’t shrink back from contact on Sunday and was taking his regular one-timers as follow was winding down.
When requested if he will certainly be prepared for Tuesday, Ovechkin stated, “We’ll see.”
Game 1 towards the top-seeded Panthers is at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida. The final time the Capitals, who enter the playoffs as the second wild card staff within the East, began the postseason on the street was in 2012.
“We just have to play the same way on the road like we play in the regular season,” Ovechkin stated. “But how said, everything is changing. It’s a totally different game it’s going to be, so I think we’re all excited. We all can’t wait for Game 1.”
Ovechkin, who had 50 objectives in 77 games this season, has not missed a playoff sport in his 17-year NHL profession. He’s recorded 71 objectives and 64 assists in 141 postseason games.
“Obviously he is the best goal scorer in the league and goals are important,” Dmitry Orlov stated. “You can see in the last three games we didn’t score a lot. For sure we need him as a captain, as a leader, as our goal scorer.”
Washington went 0-3 in its closing three games of the common season, together with two straight losses to the New York Islanders earlier than falling 3-2 within the common season finale to the New York Rangers. The Capitals misplaced to the 2 Islanders games by a mixed rating of 9-2.
Despite their poor displaying to finish the yr, the Capitals are assured they will bounce again for his or her first-round dance with the Panthers. Washington went 1-1-1 towards Florida this season and scored a median of 4 objectives a sport however gave up a median of 4.33. The two groups haven’t performed since late November.
“It’s going to be totally different games than the regular season,” Ovechkin stated. “Obviously, they have a very solid group of guys, best team in the regular season. But in the playoffs, it’s going to be different. It’s going to be a different mind-set. It’s going to be different speed. It’s going to be a different battle level.”