The Capitals will be looking to finish the regular season on a high note. (Geoff Burke — Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/d5ae0fac-9b09-4075-baa4-3fe9cbe646ce.jpeg] The Capitals will be looking to finish the regular season on a high note. (Geoff Burke — Imagn Images) ARLINGTON, V.A. — As much as coach Spencer Carbery didn't want to admit it, the Washington Capitals' focus hasn't been entirely there over the last handful of games as Alex Ovechkin has chased the record. That said, now that Ovechkin sits alone atop the league leaderboard with 895 career tallies, the Capitals bench boss is hoping the team can lock in with the Stanley Cup Playoffs just under two weeks away. "We just need to tighten up. I give our guys a little bit of a pass because of the circumstances surrounding the last 10 games. When 'O' — there was a lot going on," Carbery said. "And guys, whether they want to admit it or not, and whether I want to admit it and acknowledge it or not, as much as I want to block it out, as much as I want to say, 'No, we're strictly focused on the Winnipeg Jets, the Minnesota Wild,' whatever the opponent was — it's impossible to block the record and what was going on inside of the games out." Washington is 5-4-1 over the last 10 games and has dropped five of the last seven games overall, with four of those losses coming in regulation. Over that span, the Capitals have been outscored 30-20 while surrendering seven power-play goals. "I don't think it's good enough as a team," Tom Wilson said of D.C.'s play of late. "I thought in Minnesota, Winnipeg, we played really good hockey, playoff-type games. And then I think,a s a group, we needed a little bit more over the last couple of weeks just as a group and for our team game." Carbery also said that the team's defensive play took a hit, especially with Washington wanting to get Ovechkin on the scoresheet to get him to the finish line. "Now that he's achieved that, it's important that we pay attention to some things defensively that we need to get back inside of our game because I feel like we lost a little bit of that because we wanted to score. We wanted to help 'O' score. We were a little bit loose," Carbery said. "And I always say this in this league: If you lose just five, 10 percent of any type of detail, your defensive detail, that's enough to now you're giving up five, six, seven more scoring chances. That's a goal and a half a game, whatever it might be. That's a really important area of our game that we've got to get back to making sure we're looking after." The Capitals held a full practice on Wednesday following a lightly-attended optional skills skate on Tuesday and a day off on Monday. Those two days allowed the players the time to not only reflect on history, but reset and get ready for the final five games of the regular season and the start of the postseason. "It's nice to have the kind of couple days after to kind of let it all sink in for everyone," Dylan Strome noted, adding, "It was so cool and now Ovi's (done it), it's focusing on what's coming up next and look forward to it. I think it's good that it's done and it happened and we're ready for the last five games." Ovechkin and D.C. will look to start the trend back up on Thursday when they get a rematch against the Carolina Hurricanes. And for the NHL's new greatest goal scorer, he has faith his group will bounce back. “I think we all understand the regular season is one thing and all that’s happened during the year is one thing, but in the playoffs it’s a total different season. It’s a total different energy level, pace," Ovechkin said. "So, yeah, I think right now we have five games left and we just have to prepare for that time of year and we have to understand how we have to play.”
