The Washington Capitals returned from their week off and immediately got handed a lopsided 4-1 defeat by the New York Rangers.

So, uh what do they do now?

• Firstly, apologies for the brevity of this post, I’m a little under the weather. Secondly, apologies that you had to watch that game. The Caps had a whole lot of the puck but that’s kind of what you expect when you trail for an entire game. They didn’t do nearly enough with that possession to stage any sort of comeback. They ended the game with only five more five-on-five scoring chances and two more high danger chances than the Rangers.
• The fourth line was basically spotless again and honestly…with this team in the state it currently is in they should probably be given more five-on-five ice time. If you were reading these posts earlier in the season you’d know that that is a direct u-turn of a take from me. For example, with Garnet Hathaway on the ice at five-on-five the Caps out-attempted New York 9 to 3, out-scoring chanced them 5 to 0, and out-high danger chanced them 3-0.
• Another 0-for-4 on the power play. The Caps didn’t create a single chance on their attempts until the third period.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.