Playoffs Lead Aside, Alex Ovechkin and Capitals Failed to Deliver, Says Coach Spencer Carbery

Some of the NHL physiotherapists this season are going to need medals of their own when things come around. First, Matthew Tkachuk came back from injury to score two spectacular goals with the Panthers, and then Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals, who sustained an upper body injury only three weeks ago in a loss against the Carolina Hurricanes, ended up covering up a bunch of mistakes that Alex Ovechkin and his team made in what ended up being their second win of the series against the Montreal Canadiens. And thank goodness for that, or who knows what else the coach with exceedingly high standards, aka Spencer Carberry, might have said in his post-match interview!

Though Alex Ovechkin is building on his career goal record in a serious way, scoring two goals in game 1 of the series, and despite Connor McMichael scoring twice and Dylan Strome adding another one in game 2, Spencer Carberry still has some serious notes for his boys, specifically with regard to a bunch of mistakes that were made in the third period in game 2.

In a post-match interview following tonight’s game, Carberry stated with absolutely no qualms, “I saw maybe, I’m just going to throw this out there, maybe 8-10 plays that I didn’t see in the first 40 minutes that we were making just big mistakes in. You just can’t make those types of plays, whether it’s with the puck, whether it’s going… Like, I’ll give you an example. So when you’re trailing by a goal, Montreal’s D are just staying in, even if you just high-flip a puck, and we call it a punt, Montreal doesn’t care if you go behind them because they gotta score, so they’re gonna wait right here.”

Head coach Spencer Carbery’s full postgame media availability after tonight’s Game 2 victory over Montreal.#CapsHabs pic.twitter.com/1C6Cn8181f

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 24, 2025

It was quite clear Carberry was speaking about that third period where the Capitals ended up losing control of the puck more times than was wise. He added, however, to clarify that this was a rare happening with his team, “If you go past them, we just lost a number; now you’re cheating and going the wrong way and the puck is going that way towards our net, so that’s not us, and very uncharacteristic, like you said, some of those mistakes that we don’t normally make and we’ll get those things cleaned up.” 

However, things would have been a lot different had Logan Thompson somehow not been in his best shape ever despite having just returned from injury!

Logan Thompson saves Alex Ovechkin and team in the third period of game 2 against the Canadiens

If it wasn’t for LT, what on earth would have happened? It’s likely the Capitals wouldn’t have such a solid head start over the Canadiens, because that third period was honestly pretty hellish, with Thompson making 14 saves in this period alone. Thompson also made 25 saves total on 26 shots, which, following an upper body injury just three weeks ago, is more than impressive.

What’s more impressive, though, is that in just two games of the playoff series, Thompson has already upped his save percentage from the last fifteen games before that. In the 15 games before injury, Thompson had a 0.877 save percentage and a 3.33 goal average; however, in just two games, he’s converted that to a 0.951 save percentage, which places him just behind Carolina’s Frederik Andersen for the best save percentage in the playoffs so far!

And, if it wasn’t clear already, Carberry’s post-match comments were 100% about that third period where Thompson somehow managed to shine despite the odds against him. Elsewhere Carberry commented on Thompson’s performance, saying, “I thought he was the difference tonight, in the third.”

However, the undeniable truth is that was way too much pressure to put on one goaltender, and unless Thompson has truly emerged from this injury superhuman, Alex Ovechkin and the rest are going to have to take Carberry’s words about that D super seriously!

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