The loss was nothing short of bombarding! What was that!!! It was so bad. Standing at 7-0 was embarrassing. Adam Fantilli bagged it twice, and Jet Greaves blew 22 shots that led the Columbus Blue Jackets to secure a grand win against the Washington Capitals, freezing the score at 7-0. The ice that day missed Alex Ovechkin, who recently marked his 895 goals, breaking the NHL legend Wayne Gretzky’s towering record of 894, which almost looked outlandish to top. Capitals are witnessing a loss like that with no goals in the kitty. They called for self-reflection by the head coach after the game.

But things got even tighter on the ice, drawing a brutal fight amongst the players on Saturday night. And it all started with the very new inclusion in the Capitals, Ryan Leonard. He marked his debut this season with the Capitals. He was right in the middle of the storm. While the Caps got devoured by the Jackets at 7-0, the wild brawl in the second period stole the headline. And it all started with the rookie snapping. The 20-year-old had already taken a massive hit in the first period from Adam Fantilli, and later, when he came back, he got it again from Sean Kuraly. That’s it; he had enough right there! Leonard dropped his gloves and went after Kuraly. An analyst noted righteously after this, “First real welcome-to-the-league moment, and then he gets up swinging.” Yes, this has been pretty persistent in the NHL and on the ice.

However, returning to the Caps head coach, Spencer Carbery, taking charge and reflecting on the Washington Capitals’ loss got us on hold. He takes the high road here. Carbery stated to the media post-game, “So all of a sudden, when you’re constantly getting scored on, you’re not able to generate anything. You’re not obviously getting shots, scoring, finishing, spending time in the offensive zone. You start to lose confidence and you start to fight it a bit. Now, hopefully we have a mature enough group that can flip that quickly. But you do worry about those things, and that’s why you would, ideally, in an ideal scenario, you want to be playing well and guys at the top of their game going into playouts. But it is what it is. We understand where we’re at, and we’ll regroup and get ready for them all,” which hints at a reshuffle, but it’s clear the coach is not at all looking at it as a grave loss of all time.

Noting Ryan Leonard’s snap, Carbery added, “Yeah, I just appreciated the fact that he was right there at the forefront competing and not backing down, involved around the park, had some good scoring chances, obviously, the physicality part of it. So for a young player to play in that situation and not back down an inch says a lot about his character and who he is as a person, even even at his age and as a competitor coming in this.” Wrapping up the confidence of a 20-year-old rookie as the coach was what needed to be done here, and he did that.

Alex Ovechkin is all set to return for Washington Capitals’ next

Alex Ovechkin stands as one of the top scorers in the team. Ovechkin remains the team’s hope with 42 goals, 28 assists, and 70 points. And to keep him safe and take his recess at his own pace is crucial, given that the Stanley Cup is knocking at the door. While the 7-0 score definitely gives us an itch, that’s why Ovechkin was missing from the game, but it looks like it was more of a strategic move to keep Ovechkin away from the game. However, according to Reuters, Ovechkin is expected to play on a Sunday evening.

The past week has been a celebratory call for the Washington Capitals’ veteran. Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s record, scoring his 895th goal. The Capitals were put against the New York Islanders. However, while the Caps lost the game, Ovechkin’s 895th goal was also credited as crucial for him and the team. The team honored the 39-year-old with his due and deserved, and now is eyeing the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which are set to initiate on April 19th.

Given that, while the rotation did not come to fruition for the Caps on Saturday night, inferring from the preps that the team has been grasping on, we can only imagine what thrill the team is set to put up on the ice during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And we could hear a distant echo, “Ovi, Ovi.”