Kevin Allen

USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH — Coach Barry Trotz refuses to hide from the Washington Capitals’ history.

When the franchise failed to reach the conference final for the 17th consecutive season he didn’t point out that he has been the team’s coach for less than two full years.

“We need to get through this round,” said Trotz, who was hired on May 26, 2014. “That’s part of the deal. I think that will always be thrown at us until we get through that. We need to do it.”

But the Game 6 elimination in the second round at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins, a 4-3 loss in overtime, was a salute to the Penguins’ success more than it was an indictment of Washington’s shortcomings. The Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals didn’t blow the series. The Penguins won the series, 4-2, with an impressive all-hands-on-deck effort.

The deciding game was a tug-of-war. The Penguins scored a pair of power play goals to build a 3-0 lead and then the Capitals pulled back to tie the game 3-3 and force overtime. The Penguins are 45-0 in the regular season and playoffs when they lead after two periods, and yet the Capitals almost posted one of the franchise's greatest comebacks against them.

“You look at our resiliency — you look at the heart of the team — that’s your progress,” Trotz said.

Penguins avoid collapse, eliminate Capitals with OT win in Game 6

This Capitals played well enough to win, just not against the Penguins, a team that that has played like a team of destiny since the second half of the season. Since Mike Sullivan took over as coach on Dec. 12, the Penguins are 41-19-5 (including the playoffs).

These are not the same old Capitals. Trotz has changed the culture. This group has push-back. These Capitals are far more comfortable and determined in tight games.

Should there be changes? Of course, because there should always be changes. The Penguins’ speed was an advantage over the Capitals. The league’s emphasis on speed is becoming more pronounced.

The Capitals will want to become faster, and add more depth, to make their team more dangerous. Even though they finished as the top regular season team, with 120 points against 104 for the Penguins, their pace did not match the Penguins' by the end of the season. The promotions of speedy young forwards Conor Sheary and Tom Kühnhackl and additions of puck-moving defenseman Trevor Daley and lightning-fast winger Carl Hagelin made a difference for Pittsburgh.

Penguins' Mike Sullivan making the most of second chance

What also should be clear is that none of this was Alex Ovechkin’s fault. There was no room for stars to operate in this series. The top players played to a stalemate. But Ovechkin was engaged and visible. In this series, he led all skaters in possession with a 56.9% Corsi rating. He had five goals and 12 points in 12 games in the playoffs, with two goals and five assists against the Penguins.

No one feels the hurt of the Capitals’ disappointing playoff history more than him. Ovechkin is the greatest NHL scorer of this generation, and yet he has never been to a conference final.

“The shelf life in the National Hockey League, if you are a top player is 10, 12 years,” Trotz said. “So when you don’t go that far, the window seems like it is closing. It gets frustrating. A sense of mortality sets in.”

The Capitals are a changed team, but the worry for them is that the NHL has become a parity league. The difference between being a Presidents' Trophy winner and being a bubble playoff team isn’t much. You won't know how close you are to winning until you hoist the Stanley Cup.

“You don’t even know if you’re going to get in the playoffs next year,” Trotz said. “Getting into the playoffs is a privilege, not a right.”