They entered the game needing just a point to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy, but as dominant as the Washington Capitals have been all season, they didn’t look like the best team in the league on Saturday night. Against the St. Louis Blues, they weren’t the best team on the ice.
The Capitals lost, 4-0, the game turning when St. Louis put up three goals in the second period. Barring a collapse, the Capitals (53-16-5, 111 points) will almost certainly still clinch the Presidents’ Trophy, likely sometime in the next week, but Saturday night’s performance was a reminder that Washington has yet to recapture its form of the season’s first four-plus months.