The crowd at Verizon Center erupted after Alex Ovechkin scored. They booed after officials reviewed the play to see whether Evgeny Kuznetsov was offsides. Then they cheered some more once the call was upheld.
Jay Beagle, watching from the bench during the 3-on-3 overtime session, never had any doubt.
“It’s a judgement call on the linesman,” Beagle said. “If you have possession there and you’re stick-handling the puck behind you, it’s a judgement call. They made the right call though. He had full possession.”
Even before Ovechkin netted the winner — which ended his five-game stretch without a goal — to give the Capitals a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, Washington had accomplished one of its goals.
By heading to overtime and securing at least one point, the Capitals ensured a playoff spot, though that was never really in question once the season began. By mid-December, Washington had turned the Eastern Conference into a race for second place, one that it was never going to be a part of.
The Capitals (50-14-5) became the first team in the NHL to clinch a playoff berth this season, marking the fastest they have clinched a playoff spot since the 2009-10 season.
“When we came into training camp we said we wanted to win the division,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “That was where we started. Let’s win our division and go from there and there wasn’t any talk of first in the league or anything.
“We got a chance to sort of win the league. That’s something I think you can add to it. For us I think it’s just pride. I figured if you do that, you’ve been a good team for a lot of games in a very hard league. That’ll probably be next on the list of things to do.”
Tuesday night’s victory gave the Capitals 105 points, 14 points ahead of the Dallas Stars for the league lead.
“It’s certainly unexpected [to clinch a playoff spot] with this many games left,” forward Justin Williams said. ” It’s a tribute to how we’ve played and we’re proud of where we sit, but not proud enough to rest on our laurels. We’re pushing forward and you’ll see how good we can be.”
The Capitals took a step toward doing that against the Hurricanes. They entered the contest having lost two of their last three games during a West Coast trip, the worst part of which was the sloppy play that led to them.
Washington had been sluggish in its starts, allowing opponents to score first in 16 of its last 21 games since the all-star break. They were better on Tuesday, peppering Hurricanes goaltender Eddie Lack with 10 shots in the first period. Williams scored a minute and 30 seconds into the second period to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead.
The Hurricanes (31-26-13), on the outskirts on the playoff race, pushed the Capitals on Tuesday, something they’ve done to opponents lately. It was Carolina’s fifth consecutive overtime game, three of which have ended with losses.
Williams said he expects to face a similar challenge in the team’s remaining games as others push to secure spots in the postseason. Now that the Capitals have officially earned themselves a ticket, they’re welcoming that challenge.
“You got to keep getting better,” Williams said. “These last 10, 12 games are important against teams that are battling for playoff position or their playoff lives. Important games, good testers. Yes we’re in the playoffs but we got bigger goals than that.”
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