RALEIGH, N.C. — It is both inaccurate and unfair to lay the blame for the Washington Capitals’ deficit in their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series at the feet of one player. Hockey is a team sport. Nineteen guys took the ice Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. There were mistakes all over the place. (Looking at you, John Carlson.)

But if the Capitals are going to swiftly discard the 4-0 drubbing they suffered in Game 3 at Lenovo Center and pull even Monday night — or even win the darn thing — it says here they have to get something from the best player who has ever pulled on their sweater, be it the screaming eagle from the old days or the red, white and blue of now.

Alex Ovechkin, where are you?

“There’s no doubt that [Dylan Strome] and him, his line, five-on-five — it’s a different series, right?” said Capitals coach Spencer Carbery, referring to Ovechkin’s center. “It’s a tougher series for them. … It’s hard, heavy minutes. It’s not going to be easy. They don’t need to score every game, but we do need some production.”

It’s pretty easy to argue that Game 3 was Ovechkin’s best of the series, which the Hurricanes now lead 2-1. He put a team-high four shots on net. It’s also pretty easy to argue that the first period and a half represented the Capitals’ best stretch of hockey in what had been a series tighter than Lycra pants.

“All the confidence in the world for next game,” defenseman Jakob Chychrun said. “I have no doubt about this group.”

That fits how the Capitals have responded all season. And yet, there’s this: Ovechkin didn’t bury any of his early attempts — and he had more than one good one. And none of the Capitals picked him up.

“If you score one of these opportunities early, you’re up 1-, 2-0 — it changes the whole outlook of the game,” Carbery said. “But we didn’t.”

So they’re left with a harsh reality. Ovechkin’s totals for the three games of this series: zero goals, zero assists. Number of times Ovechkin went three consecutive games without a point in the regular season: one.

“I don’t get to choose who shoots,” said Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen, who stopped all 21 shots he faced — from Ovechkin or others.

Is the Capitals’ standing in the series the fault of a 39-year-old who, on Saturday night, appeared in his 159th playoff game? No, of course not. But Ovechkin has been the sun in the Capitals’ universe for two decades. It was no different in his 20th season. He has driven them. He drives them still.

Even at 39, he scored 44 goals in just 65 games — a 55-goal pace had he not missed 16 games with a broken leg. Even at 39, he led his team in goals — including 30 at even strength, so important when the playoffs come around, because power plays become harder to come by. Even at 39, he stalked Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 goals — and blew past it.

From a national perspective, Ovechkin’s pursuit of Gretzky overshadowed the Capitals’ development as a team. A year after they willed themselves into the playoffs — with a team that was older and slower and had to solve an advanced calculus problem just to score a goal — an overhauled roster became a very solid unit from the first month of the season. That’s because the additions from the front office led by Brian MacLellan and Chris Patrick fit in perfectly, basically to a man.

But it’s also because Ovechkin wasn’t limping through the last years of his career. In a lot of ways, he was leading the charge, a catalyst still.

That continued in the first round against Montreal. He scored twice in the playoff opener, including the first overtime tally of his postseason career. He got them on the board in the series clincher at home, sparking a 4-1 victory. He finished with four goals and an assist in five games. He may not have been the Caps’ MVP of that round — a fake award that probably would have gone to goalie Logan Thompson or do-everything forward Tom Wilson. But Ovechkin clearly was part of the solution, not part of the problem.

That has to continue in Game 4 — and beyond. Think of it this way: Ovechkin’s goals don’t just exist, floating in space. They have an impact on the Capitals’ chances of winning. Combine the playoffs and the regular season, and 34 of Ovechkin’s goals came in wins. Just 14 came in losses.

There were, of course, other elements to Saturday’s loss. Carlson, Ovechkin’s longest-tenured teammate, had a particularly rough night. He was a step — oh, let’s be honest, two steps — too slow off the faceoff that led to Andrei Svechnikov’s seal-breaking goal. Thompson — to this point perhaps the best goalie in the playoffs — then allowed a shaky one, failing to prevent Jack Roslovic’s wrister from beating him to the near post. And after their strong start, the Capitals — collectively — just about caved.

On to Monday. It’s another opportunity to even things up. But if the Capitals are going to do that — if they’re going to win the three out of four it will take to advance — they will need something from their captain, around whom the entire franchise revolves.