Not close to good enough to start a streak: numbers for the morning after

The Washington Capitals failed to win two games in a row again. With their 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night, the club is now 0-6-1 since their last two wins in a row on December 2nd and 3rd.

What in the world was that second period? Yuck.

• The Capitals just have not had “it” for probably over two months now. The Sharks are not a good five-on-five team, and they smoked the Caps in this one, edging them out in shot attempts (44-35), scoring chances (23-15), high-danger chances (11-5), and expected goals (2.39-1.57). The Capitals’ second period was particularly atrocious, as they recorded only four shots on goal and zero high-danger chances. They gave up three goals in three minutes, which was the deciding stretch of the game. Bad.
• Ryan Leonard was probably the lone bright spot, playing well after he didn’t look great against the Canadiens. He scored the 10th goal of his rookie season after deking Ryan Reaves out of his skates and played 18:34 of total ice time. He also threw two hits and blocked one shot.
• The penalty kill was also pretty good as they were perfect against three Sharks opportunities, although a lot of that was due to goaltender Logan Thompson. The Sharks recently scored four power-play goals in the same game against the Dallas Stars.

• Dylan McIlrath played 6:04 of ice time. Was he solely dressed because Ryan Reaves is on the Sharks and Tom Wilson wasn’t playing? At least that reason would make some sense rather than actually choosing to just play with five defensemen again. For those keeping track, Hendrix Lapierre played just 6:30, and Sonny Milano saw 7:28.
• Logan Thompson made 23 stops on the 26 shots he faced. According to MoneyPuck, he allowed 0.64 more goals than expected. However, I don’t think you can fault him for any of the goals. The guys in front of him just weren’t in the game.
• The Capitals have 34 games left this season and are currently out of a playoff position. Making matters worse, they’re actually 12th in points percentage in the Eastern Conference. Things need to pick up quickly, or missing the postseason is very possible.