The Washington Capitals had an important game against a great club this afternoon. Rather than be motivated by that, the Capitals seemed to limp out of the gate en route to a 4-2 loss against the Boston Bruins.
“I’m shocked at the start,” Capitals coach Adam Oates told reporters after the game, per the Monumental Network.
Oates also described the team’s attention to detail as “lousy” in the first half of the contests. He added that it was “very frustrating” to see this late into the season, given everything that’s at stake. It got to the point where he considered calling a timeout to “lay into them,” but he ultimately held onto it.
Washington is in a four-way tie with Detroit, Toronto, and Columbus for the Eastern Conference Wild Card spots. However, the Capitals are in last when it comes to regulation plus overtime wins (the tiebreaker used at the end of the season) and have now played in one more game than the Red Wings and Blue Jackets.
Toronto and Detroit will play against each other tonight, so at least one of them will end up with more points than Washington.
To further complicate things, the Capitals have to play five of their final eight games on the road. They also have to get right back out there against the Nashville Predators tomorrow.
