The Washington Capitals' loss to the New York Islanders was a tough one to take in. However, there's still hope -- and has to be -- in the dressing room.
WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals left the ice in disappointment on Wednesday, staring reality straight in the face after a tough 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
It was a hard-nosed battle for the Capitals and Islanders, one where Washington felt it played well enough to win despite a lopsided third period. However, it all came down to a skill competition in the end, resulting in just one of two possible points for D.C.
"The game could have gone either way," Nicklas Backstrom pointed out afterward as the team admitted it was a tough result to process.
As the Capitals fly to Tampa Bay for another critical game in less than 24 hours, they sit five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second Wild Card spot.
It'll be a tough hill to climb, with just seven games to go in the regular season. The team is more than aware of that situation, and with that comes an urgency to capitalize on every opportunity going forward.
"We know how it looks," Trevor van Riemsdyk said. "We can do the math, we know where we stand. It's going to take a heck of an April here."
"It's desperation time for us," Conor Sheary added. "I think this team has the ability to score a lot of goals, and we will score a lot of goals. If we can play hard defense and make it hard on other teams, it makes us that much more dangerous of a team.”
That being said, the only way out for Washington is through.
"Just got to keep working, and that's all we can do," Backstrom said simply.
In addition to putting in the work, the team also has to have hope, and that is still alive in the dressing room. Washington has been in spots like this before -- albeit not in a long time at this point in the season -- and prevailed.
Now, it's time to do it again with their playoff hopes slipping away for the first time since 2017.
"We've done it before. We had a heck of a December where we strong some [wins] together. We're healthy right now, we've got everyone back. There's no reason we can't do it again," van Riemsdyk said. "We're going to focus on what we can control and win the games in front of us. If that's enough -- we hope it is -- that's all we can control."