Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals have no one to blame but themselves after the Rangers knocked them out of the playoffs with a 5-0 thumping in Game 7 at the Verizon Center on Monday. But Ovechkin — goal-less over the final six games of the series — is blaming the referees, anyway.
“I am not saying there was a phone call from [the league], but someone just wanted Game 7, for the ratings,” Ovechkin told Russian NHL.com contributor Slava Malamud, who translated to English after the loss. “You know, the lockout, escrow, the league needs to make profit. … I don’t know whether the refs were predisposed against us, or the league. But to not give obvious penalties [against the Rangers], while for us any little thing was immediately penalized …”
In the seven games, the Rangers finished with 28 power play opportunities to the Capitals’ 16, clearly a source of frustration for Ovechkin. The height of that was when Washington wasn’t awarded a single second of power-play time in Game 6, while the Rangers had five chances totaling 9:44. The Rangers won that game, 1-0, and staved off elimination to force a Game 7.
The Capitals had the league’s best power play in the regular season with a 26.8-percent success rate. In the playoffs, they were 3-for-16 (18.8 percent).
And the two-time MVP was held to a career-worst five straight pointless games in the postseason, finishing with just one goal and one assist in the series.
“The refereeing. … You understand it yourself,” Ovechkin said. “How can there be no penalties at all [on one team] during the playoffs?”
Rangers coach John Tortorella responded to comments yesterday afternoon on ESPN Radio, saying, “I’m not gonna get into a back and forth with Alex. One of the best lessons that we learned, especially for the young guys, is that you can’t get into the minutiae of it all, the complaining about this and that.”
* The Rangers had the day off yesterday, so there is no update on the possible availability of defenseman Marc Staal, who participated in the morning skate in Washington before Game 7. Besides a one-game cameo in Game 3 of the first round, Staal has been out since he was struck with a puck in the right eye on March 5.
It also seems doubtful forward Ryane Clowe will be available early in this series — if at all — as he hasn’t skated since suffering what is presumed to be his second concussion in two weeks in Game 2.