Capitals back in a similar rut from earlier in the season: numbers for the morning after

The Washington Capitals have lost three games in a row, and similar issues from earlier in the campaign have returned. The latest loss, a 5-0 defeat to the Minnesota Wild, was just their second game without a goal this season.

Not the most ideal road trip. Yikes.

• The Capitals actually played a good first two periods against the Wild and arguably should have been up in the game heading into the third period. They owned 2.48 all-strengths expected goals heading into the final frame, while the Wild had just 2.1. Unfortunately, the Caps wilted in the third period and didn’t put up much of a fight, getting shut out for the first time since before Halloween.
• One of the big issues in the loss came in net as Charlie Lindgren made just 27 saves on 32 shots faced. Lindgren has never beaten the Wild in six career games against them, and, per MoneyPuck, allowed 1.93 more goals than expected. Meanwhile, Filip Gustavsson saved 3.04 more goals than expected in the Wild net. That’s going to be the difference in most games.
• The lack of goal scoring is one of the “issues” from earlier in the season that has seemingly reappeared of late, and part of that is the power play returning to being a completely unviable, unwatchable, terrible mess. Kirk Muller’s man-advantage units have one power-play goal in their last fifteen opportunities and allowed a shorthanded goal to Matt Boldy in this loss. Folks, I don’t know what to tell you here. The coaching staff needs to figure something out.

• Zero shots on goal for Alex Ovechkin in 15:12 of ice time. His first game without a shot on goal this season. He had just two games without a shot last year. It might be time to rethink the first line, but I’m not sure what the exact play is.
• After a resurgent end of November, Connor McMichael has just three points (1g, 2a) in seven December games. Similarly, Aliaksei Protas is pointless in his last three games.
• While this game ended positively in terms of five-on-five analytics, the Capitals have owned just 46.3 percent of shot attempts, 48.6 percent of expected goals, 49 percent of scoring chances, and 48.1 percent of high-danger chances in their December games, which is definitely a concerning lull in play.