The Washington Capitals fell to the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Thursday, their seventh loss in their last nine games. The Capitals saw questionable goaltending and showed the same issues on offense that they’ve had all season: failing to generate much offense and when they did have a good chance, struggling to bury it.
What really bothered Spencer Carbery the most, though, was how meekly the team played in the third period. The Caps generated only five shots on goal and had only 10 five-on-five shot attempts in the final 20 minutes. As the period closed, the Capitals watched helplessly as the Kraken held onto the puck and dominated in possession.
After the game, Carbery chided his team’s effort as the game slipped away.
“You just have to stick with it, stick with it, stick with it, and I thought we had a few breakdowns where we give them opportunities, where we just have to be way tighter,” he said. “And then the third period too, that’s disappointing. There should be way more of a push from our group, from our leadership top to bottom. And there wasn’t.
“Even if you’re not scoring, even if you’re not feeling it, even if you can’t make a tape-to-tape pass, you can still have a large impact on the game with your skating, with your physicality, with your intensity and I didn’t think there was much in the way of that in the third period, which is disappointing.”
The Caps’ lack of physicality was highlighted by the absence of Tom Wilson, who missed the game recovering from a broken nose. Carbery sorely missed Wilson’s high-energy style of play through the third period as a listless Capitals team failed to put up a fight.
“Just life energy–we needed a lot more of that in the third period. Even if you’re not going to win that game, even if we’re not going to score a goal in that situation, you need life. You need guys that are uncomfortable with the situation. Go stop at the goaltender. Do something to have some type of impact on the game instead of just going quietly into the night. And that’s what I thought just down the line, guys just went quietly, which is disappointing.”
One bad game could be written off, but Thursday night was more evidence of a larger pattern. The Capitals have now gone 3-5-2 in their last 10 and have been outscored 37-22 in that span. Though only three points out of a playoff spot, they currently rank second-last in the Metropolitan Division and are set to face the division-leading New York Rangers in back-to-back games this weekend.
The Capitals won’t have long to make improvements before facing New York, holding a full practice Friday before Saturday’s matinee game.
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— Warroad Hockey Co. (@WarroadHockeyCo) January 12, 2024
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
