This year was supposed to be different, but the Capitals, on the verge of another early exit, only build on their rep as sports’ most consistently disappointing team

The Washington Capitals are one game away from elimination. One more loss and it’s all over. Their season, but almost definitely this era of Capitals hockey along with it.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. This year was supposed to be different. The Capitals won the Presidents’ Trophy for the best regular season record in the NHL and were primed to put it all together this postseason, make it through the second round of the playoffs for the first time in Alexander Ovechkin’s 12-year career and finally win a Stanley Cup for an organization that has been waiting for one since entering the league in 1974. Instead, the Capitals are 60 minutes of hockey away from having Pittsburgh Penguins fans celebrate across the street from the Verizon Center on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery once again.

Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) PARTY ON THE STEPS! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/NAKeaV7Tq4

Of course, a paragraph very similar to the one above was no doubt written for some publication in 2010 and 2016 when the Caps also won the Presidents’ Trophy. They were going to win the Cup then, too, and most every year in between. Washington has been a very good team for a very long time, making the playoffs nine out of the last 10 years, and winning their division in seven of those years. But then the postseason starts and it all quickly collapses in Washington below a ceiling full of regular season banners. The Capitals-in-the-playoffs is the running joke for a generation of hockey fans.

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But the good news for Capitals fans is that that’s all about to end. Either Ovechkin and friends manage to win three games in a row from the Penguins – a team that is their supposed rival but has an 8-1 record in playoff series against them all-time – and move on in the playoffs or, the more likely scenario: the Capitals get eliminated in the coming days and management decides to finally, mercifully, blow the whole thing up and start over.

The hard part about committing to a rebuild is that the Capitals are, and have been, legitimately close. Even in the playoffs. A year ago in the 2nd Round they lost in a competitive six-game series to the Penguins, the eventual Cup champion. They also lost to the Penguins in an epic seven-game series on the way to Pittsburgh winning it all in 2009.

After last year’s defeat, Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said of the Penguins: “No, I don’t think they were clearly better. I think if you looked at all the shot statistics they were pretty much equal. Maybe we had an advantage in scoring chances. I think the goaltending was pretty much equal. It was a close series. I think in hindsight, I think we missed opportunities.”

That’s a very positive spin to put on a series in which you lose to a lower-seeded team in six games, but it wasn’t entirely delusional. It was a competitive series. So MacLellan headed into this season with almost exactly the same roster intact, from Ovechkin and goaltender Braden Holtby down to more questionable pieces like Brooks Orpik and Daniel Winnik, confident that Washington’s size and physicality would finally win out.

Fast-forward to this year’s series against the Penguins and shot statistics are not equal at all. The Capitals have outshot the Penguins 142-93 through four games and puck possession is approximately all-of-the-minutes by Washington to none-of-the-minutes for Pittsburgh. The Penguins can’t break the puck out of the zone without injured defenseman Kris Letang and that problem has only gotten worse since Sidney Crosby was taken out early in Game 3. Shots, scoring chances, puck possession, however you want to measure it, the Capitals are outplaying the Penguins in every possible way except on the scoreboard and between the pipes. If not for the performance of Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, Washington probably would have won the series in a sweep. Instead, they’re on the brink of having to blow themselves up.

Assuming this series ends like everyone, including Caps fans, think it now will, Washington can’t just throw the same group on the ice again next year and hope the outcome will change. That’s the definition of insanity, no? That’s banging your head against the wall and we’ve learned that Washington likes to reserve blows to head for Sidney Crosby alone.

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MacLellan can cite shot statistics and talk about being “pretty equal” all he wants, the reality is that the team will have failed. Again. Again again again again again again again again, in fact, if we’re counting. And this time against the Penguins without Letang, Crosby and their supposed No1 goalie in Matt Murray. The only reason to keep trying is to see if this group of Capitals can solidify their place as the most consistently disappointing sports team of all-time, if they’re not there already. The Buffalo Bills at least made it to the Super Bowl four times before inevitably losing; the Capitals can’t even get to the conference finals once.

Kevin Shattenkirk, TJ Oshie and Justin Williams are all veteran Caps who are unrestricted free agents this offseason and jettisoning them would be a quick way to kick off a rebuild. Somehow ridding themselves of the plodding Orpik, who seems to be prominently featured in the background of most everyone Penguins goal, would help, too. Maybe the Capitals would even discuss dealing Holtby if they think they could get good return in a trade.

But Ovechkin will be the name featured in any legitimate and worthwhile rebuild. He has been a non-factor in this series, scoring only a single goal in Washington’s Game 1 loss, and spending most of the rest of the series on the fringes of the action like some random third or fourth-liner. But he’s still a big-name player who netted 33 goals this season. There would be trading partners if Washington wants them.

Dealing the face of the franchise is a big decision. But what does it say about the face of the franchise if that franchise has become synonymous with disappointment and failure? It’s time for something new in Washington. Even if new is not making the playoffs for a few years. Caps fans would probably agree it’s better than the same, old losing.