PRO FOOTBALL

With a third draft complete, Ron Rivera’s roster rebuild

with the Commanders is reaching the final stages. D3

BASEBALL

The Nationals find good vibes — and a series victory —

in San Francisco with an 11-5 win over the Giants. D5

NBA PLAYOFFS

The Warriors lose Draymond Green to an early ejection

but find a way past the Grizzlies in Game 1 anyway. D5

KLMNO

SPORTS

MONDAY, MAY 2 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS SU D

BY SAMANTHA PELL

Alex Ovechkin seems primed
to return to the ice Tuesday for
Game 1 of the Washington Capi-
tals’ first-round playoff series
against the Florida Panthers. The
36-year-old captain missed the
final three games of the regular
season after he suffered an
u pper-body injury April 24.
On Sunday, Ovechkin said he
could have played in the last
week of the season if they had
been playoff games, but he and
the team wanted to be cautious.
“We knew we make the play-
offs and just decided to take a
rest,” he said.
Ovechkin skated at Sunday’s

practice. He took all of his reps

and has been skating with the

team since Thursday. He didn’t

shy away from contact Sunday

and was taking his usual one-

timers as practice wound down.

When asked whether he defi-

nitely will be ready Tuesday,

Ovechkin said, “We’ll see.”

Games 1 and 2 against the

top-seeded Panthers will be

played in Sunrise, Fla. The last

time the Capitals, who are the

second wild-card team in the

Eastern Conference, started the

SEE CAPITALS ON D2

Caps’ captain may return

for Game 1 vs. Panthers

BY ROMAN STUBBS

Lynn Kessler began attending

Washington Capitals games in

the 1970s, growing to love her

hometown team more with each

passing year. The 58-year-old has

rooted for generations of Capitals

players and has turned many of

her friends into die-hard follow-

ers of the franchise, at one point

splitting a season ticket package

with some of them. Rooms in her

home are lined with memorabil-

ia, and her Facebook page is a

shrine to recent players.

But when the Capitals hit the

ice to begin the Stanley Cup play-

offs Tuesday at the Florida Pan-

thers, Kessler won’t be watching.

She has not watched a Capitals

game since February, when Rus-

sia invaded Ukraine.

Her husband’s family is from

Ukraine, and Kessler is conflicted

about rooting for the team be-

cause of its Russian captain, Alex

Ovechkin. Like other fans from

Ukraine or with ties to the coun-

try interviewed for this story,

Kessler is angry about Ovechkin’s

support for Russian President

Vladimir Putin.

“I still love the Caps, but I don’t

love Alex Ovechkin,” Kessler said.

“It’s going to be really strange to

not watch the playoffs, but I don’t

think I can do it.”

The vast majority of Capitals

SEE UKRAINE ON D2

They back Ukraine — so not Ovechkin

Some find it impossible to root for Capitals because of star’s support of Putin amid Russia’s invasion

JULIA NIKHINSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

“We lost this great feeling about having this wonderful team in our

capital that we all support,” M aryna Baydyuk said. “It’s gone.”

In this NFL draft,
patience defeated
desperation for
once.
Quarterback-
deprived teams
heeded the
warnings and
didn’t reach for
the first passer they saw throw a
spiral.
It was expected, and the
discipline still was revelatory.
You can explain away the lack
of interest in rookie quarterbacks
with a few standard reasons.
This class had long been derided
as uninspiring, and the pool of
teams craving quarterbacks was
smaller because, in the previous
two drafts, nine were selected in
the first round, eight of whom
are expected to be starters this
season. Before the draft, several
other needy teams had gone
wild, snagging big-name
veterans during an unusually
frenzied trade market.
And so, for just the second
time in two decades, one signal
caller heard his name in the first
round. After Pittsburgh took
Kenny Pickett with the 20th pick,
the next quarterback wasn’t
selected until Round 3, when
Desmond Ridder went at No. 74.
However, it wasn’t as random
as perceived. If you resist looking
at the offseason in isolation, you
will realize the current situation
is an exaggerated representation
of a decade-long shift in NFL
roster-building ideology.
The change involves
sequencing. Teams are getting
smarter about setting the table
for a quarterback to come in and
make an immediate impact. In
the most triumphant recent
tales, he is a capstone acquisition
and not the initiator of a fruitful
rebuild.
The foundational piece doesn’t
have to come first anymore.
There are fewer examples now of
lowly organizations starting
their rebuilding effort by using a
high first-round draft pick on a
quarterback and then going
through every painstaking step
with that young player to try to
build a winning team. In some of
the most celebrated examples,
the franchise acquired its most
SEE BREWER ON D3

QBs remain

the priority

but can still be

the final piece

Jerry

Brewer

KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Forward Ashley Hatch, right, delivered the game-winning goal in the 66th minute after Ashley Sanchez, front, opened the game’s scoring in the 14th.

Game 1: Capitals at Panthers

Tomorrow, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2,

NBC Sports Washington

What to know: Adam Kilgore offers
his takeaways from the draft. D3

BY STEVEN GOFF

The Washington Spirit did not have

much of a chance to celebrate its 2021

National Women’s Soccer League cham-

pionship, won last fall with an unfathom-

able run amid off-field turmoil. Players

dashed off to international duty, and

ownership issues moved back to the

forefront. A proper bash would have to

wait.

On Sunday, more than five months

after it lifted the trophy in Louisville, the

Spirit mixed the present and the past at

Audi Field: It defeated Seattle’s OL Reign,

2-1, in its regular season opener, then

commemorated last year’s valor with a

celebration featuring the mayor, a musi-

cian and merriment.

“We definitely have been looking for-

ward to celebrating with the community,”

forward Anna Heilferty said. “We didn’t

really get that chance last year. This is

what we love — to play in front of a big

crowd and celebrate with the fans.”

The championship banner, covering

about 20 rows in the north end, was

unveiled. Rings were distributed. There

were fireworks and a performance by

Grammy Award winner Ella Mai. Mayor

Muriel E. Bowser (D) proclaimed Nov. 20

— which will be the anniversary of the 2-1

extra-time victory over the Chicago Red

SEE SPIRIT ON D10

A victory and a celebration

SPIRIT 2,

OL REIGN 1

Washington salutes 2021 title

and begins new season strong

NWSL Challenge Cup, semifinal:

OL Reign at Spirit

Wednesday, 8 p.m., CBS Sports Network

ROCK

THE RED

LET’S

GO

CAPS

CARLSON

PLAYOFFS ON SALE

WASHCAPS.COM