Despite remaining in first place in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division, the Washington Capitals were unable to gain footing at Capital One Arena, falling to the St. Louis Blues with a final score of 5-2. Following the defeat, head coach Spencer Carbery shared his thoughts on the game, focusing primarily on the search for solutions to these types of challenges.
The second consecutive loss at this stage of the season is a rare occurrence for the Caps, in fact, it’s the first time in two months that they’ve experienced such a setback. Moreover, this marks their third defeat by a margin of three or more goals in 59 games this season, the fewest in the NHL.
For these reasons, Coach Carbery took responsibility for his team’s performance in the loss to the Blues, emphasizing that they will continue to refine their game in order to find solutions to these challenging situations during matches.
“I feel like the last couple games just lacked a little bit of – whatever you want to call it – oomph,” Caps coach Spencer Carbery stated to the press. “You can just feel it, and I’m sure you guys can see it. Just second on pucks and little things throughout the entire game. You could tell that we need to do a better job and we’ve got to find it. You know where we’re going with this is comfortable versus desperate, and we’re going to have to find that.”
Trevor van Riemsdyk #57 of the Washington Capitals and Jake Neighbours #63 of the St. Louis Blues battle for the puck during the third period at Capital One Arena on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC.
The reflection of Pierre-Luc Dubois following the defeat
The latest loss to the Blues at home was certainly unexpected. In fact, the majority of the Capitals players were visibly frustrated by the outcome. Pierre-Luc Dubois was one of them, and after the second consecutive defeat, he shared his thoughts on the situation.
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“We’re playing teams right now that are hungry to be in the playoff race,” Caps center P-L Dubois said. “And it’s not a switch you turn on in the playoffs. The game ramps up after bye week, and everybody knows that. These teams are hungry, those teams are hungry, those teams are hungry, and there’s teams that are hungry to climb up in the standings. And being where we are in the standings, we’ve got our target on our backs; everybody’s chasing us.
“So we’re going to get the best of every team, every night. And that’s a good thing. It’s going to challenge us to be ready for the last 10, 15 games of the season. The race starts now for us too,” he finally concluded.
Pierre-Luc Dubois #80 of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring a goal against the St. Louis Blues during the first period at Capital One Arena on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC.
The notable absence of Wilson
The game against St. Louis marked an unprecedented event: the first absence of the season for Tom Wilson. This was a significant blow to the team, which clearly missed the presence and talent of one of its key players on the ice.
“We missed him a ton,” the HC Carbery said. “And the disappointing thing is when that happens, you lose not only what he does on the ice but what he brings leadership wise, personality wise, [he’s] vocal, I just didn’t feel like anybody – or a group of people, because nobody is going to replace Tom Wilson – and we just didn’t do enough to pick up the slack.”
“He is one of the biggest reasons why we are doing so well this season. And it definitely hurts us a lot when we’re missing him,” defenseman Martin Fehervary also added.
