WASHINGTON DC — The Capitals dropped their third straight game Tuesday night with a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. This time, the defeat came despite a lopsided 37-17 shot count for Washington, as well as Alex Ovechkin breaking a four-game scoring drought.
Though the game featured some bright moments, the Caps’ season so far has looked bleak. The Capitals have lost four of five games so far and scored a total of six goals. They’ve failed to hold a lead at any point during play. Players and coach alike expressed mounting frustration with their campaign thus far, which has seen multiple strong games go unrewarded.
“I think everybody’s kind of tight because it didn’t go our way,” Alex Ovechkin said after the game. “But we just have to fight hard to work and win.”
The Capitals thought they had the lead early in the first after Nicklas Backstrom snuck the puck past goaltender Joseph Woll on the power play. That excitement was short-lived, however, with Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe successfully challenging for goaltender interference. Tom Wilson saw the disallowed goal as part of a larger trend of poor luck for his teammates.
“I mean, I’ve seen a lot of goals scored that way. I don’t want to comment too much on it, but it is what it is,” he said. “It’s just the way it’s going right now. We’ve got to find a way to battle through the adversity and find a momentum-builder to try and push it our way. And you come out flying, score a potentially big goal. I think the first period was great. Just, pucks running up in the back of our net and it’s hard to chase games.”
Morgan Rielly would get a power play goal of his own later in the period for the first of four unanswered goals for Toronto. The Leafs would go on to score three goals on eight shots in the second period, including a power play tally from Auston Matthews following an abuse of officials penalty by Tom Wilson.
“I think when you give other teams an opportunity to go on the power play, eventually it’s going to end up in your net,” Wilson noted. “A little bit of frustration obviously from my part. Can’t have it, unacceptable, but I think as a whole we’ve just got to find a way to build momentum and tilt the ice our way.”
Despite the lopsided score, several players remarked on the team’s strong play for much of the night. The Capitals out-chanced the Leafs 31-17 and beat them in high-danger shots 15-9, but failed to score more than a single goal.
“I think right now we are playing that position that we just can score,” Ovechkin said. “I think we have lots of opportunities. I think we played the right way, but (it’s) just that period of time when we have to fight through it. And don’t be panicking, don’t be frustrated, that’s just a part of the process, I think. We just have to play hard and go there.”
“We had the puck for a ton of the game, creating great chances, good zone time,” said goaltender Darcy Kuemper. “Didn’t get rewarded.”
Carbery expressed particular frustration at the team’s continued losses in spite of what he saw as generally strong play.
“It’s the same old story of finding ways to lose hockey games,” he said. “In the National Hockey League, you have to figure it (out). You can do all the good things you want structurally: there’s a lot of good things that are going on, no question. But at the end of the day, if we want to be a good team in this league, you have to find ways to win as opposed to finding ways to lose.”
He went on to highlight the team’s offensive style as a potential issue, pointing to John Tavares’ tip-in goal as a potential model to emulate.
“I think just naturally our group, the way it’s built, it’s not an overly physical, strong, net-front presence, win pucks inside, tips. You see Tavares’ goal today; I don’t feel like that’s a real strength of our group, but it needs to become a strength of our group,” Carbery explained. “Especially when you’re struggling to score goals, you have to find ways to get to the interior. You’ve got to find ways to generate a tip. You’ve got to find ways to get a rebound, even if maybe that’s not your forte or you’re not known for that.
“We’re not doing enough of that to find a greasy goal to get your first of the season and get on the board with a tip or something ugly,” he added. “And if you just think it’s going to be a slot run line, we’ve played this story out for now five games, and it’s on repeat.”
Amidst the onslaught of Leafs offense, Ovechkin scored his first of the season on the power play late in the second period. The goal marked his 300th power play tally, a feat no other NHL player has achieved. Ovechkin himself deflected questions on the significance of the milestone.
“It’s 300,” he replied simply.
Wilson, however, was more effusive with his praise of Ovechkin’s record.
“I mean, it’s insane. It’s beyond comprehension at times, what he does. And pretty cool to be able to witness all the milestones he has hit and is going to hit. So it’s pretty amazing.”
Carbery was similarly complimentary of Ovechkin’s efforts, which also saw him record 14 shots, more than tripling the next-closest player on the ice.
“Yeah, he looked different tonight, even another gear. He was attacking all night. He was not deferring at all, so you can tell that especially that first power play. It was coming to the cage today, and that was part of our game plan, to attack them, try to put them on their heels. So he set the tone in there.”
The Caps won’t have long to mull over the loss as they prepare to face the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday. There, they will play without their starting goaltender, with Hunter Shepard set to make his NHL debut. After such a difficult start, the team will need to make a quick turnaround, particularly on offense, to pull out a win in Newark.
“At times it looks pretty good. At times we’re generating chances,” Wilson noted. “I think when things start to go the other way, we’ve got to make sure we’re still working for each other. Little plays, showing up for your teammate, working away from the puck, stuff like that. I think you start trying to push a little bit.
“When you get behind and you’re chasing a game, it makes it a lot more difficult. You’ve got to continue to play the right way, but easier said than done. We’ve got to find a way to get a lead and I think that’ll be the recipe for success we can build from there.”
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
