The Washington Capitals haven’t won back-to-back games since early December. Now the wheels are coming off.
During what was supposed to be a season-defining West Coast road trip, the Caps have lost four of the five games. Their latest reckoning came in a 5-1 loss to the middling Kraken, where the score could have been even worse if Seattle didn’t have two goals taken off the board by officials.
“Obviously not good enough and tough pill to swallow right now,” Capitals alternate captain Tom Wilson said per Monumental Sports Network.
The Capitals managed only four shots on goal in the first period and surrendered 13 to the Kraken. But thanks to sublime goaltending from Logan Thompson, they entered intermission tied 0-0.
The Kraken wasted no time pouring it on in the second period, though, lighting the lamp three times thanks to tallies from Jared McCann (2) and Jordan Eberle. In the third period, Seattle scored four different goals, but only Ryker Evans and Matty Beniers‘s counted. A McCann hat-trick goal was wiped off the board due to a high-stick by Beniers on Justin Sourdif earlier in the play, and a Ryan Winterton tally was negated after goaltender interference by Jacob Melanson.
The Capitals mustered only 20 shots on goal on the night and a single goal from Alex Ovechkin. At five-on-five, the Capitals were out-attempted 53 to 36. Seattle generated 3.11 expected goals to the Capitals’ 1.79.
“I feel like we were defending the whole game, so you’re not going to get any offense if you don’t have the puck,” Wilson said. “They were skating. I think it came down to skating and competing first, and we got our legs and made a little bit of a push, but they were the more consistent team throughout the whole game. Just felt like we never had our legs or our hands, kind of the whole night.”
The loss put the Capitals eight points out of the final wild-card spot in the East. The Capitals are tied with the New Jersey Devils for the second-worst points percentage in the Eastern Conference at .528. The only ray of hope is that they’re just 4 points out of third place in the Metropolitan Division, which would still get them into the playoffs.
The Capitals’ final game of their season-high, six-game road trip will bring them to Detroit on Thursday, where they’ll face a Red Wings team that’s already beaten them twice this season.
“I think this is a kick in the teeth,” Wilson said of the loss to the Kraken. “We’ve got one game left on this trip, and it’s the biggest game of the year, so if we’re not desperate after this one, then I don’t know what to say. I think our group understands what’s going on here, and this is a big wake-up call coming in here and getting our asses handed to us. We’ve got to be better, and we will be better.”
