The Washington Capitals had the opportunity to further turn the playoff race on its head and take another step on Sunday against the New York Rangers. Instead, the wheels fell off, and in turn, their chances at the postseason took a major hit.

A second-period collapse and lack of coverage led to a disastrous 8-1 loss, and the Capitals are back where they started — and got no help on the outside scoreboard, either.

Here are the takeaways as D.C. sits three points out of Wild Card position and third in the Metropolitan Division.

The Capitals were in good shape entering the middle frame on Sunday, tied 1-1 after an impressive breakaway goal for Connor McMichael. However, they stepped off the gas and let New York take control, and it led to a five-goal period against.

First, on a power play, J.T. Miller got to the backdoor and deflected a save from Charlie Lindgren into the back of the net. Minutes later, Will Cuylle struck on a similar play, getting to the back post before redirecting another goal past Lindgren.

Cuylle struck again soonafter, beating Lindgren blocker side through a screen to make it a 4-1 game. Adam Sykora then added to the onslaught with a one-timer, and Adam Fox beat Lindgren through traffic on another power-play chance for a 6-1 lead going into the third.

Washington's defense left quite a bit to be desired, failing to pick up the man at the backdoor and allowing the Rangers to dominate the offensive zone. It was a tough night in net for Lindgren, too, who'd sat the last 10 games before coming in to play on the second half of the back-to-back. He ended the night with 23 saves on 31 shots.

Coming back for the third after fights from Jakob Chychrun and Brandon Duhaime to close out a disastrous second, the Capitals just couldn’t find any kind of momentum. And, to add insult to injury, Vincent Trocheck put things even further out of reach, beating Lindgren five hole to make it 7-1 early in the final frame.

Except for McMichael’s breakaway goal in the first off a nice pass from Tom Wilson, the offense came up empty, failing to really generate a lot of high-quality opportunities on Igor Shesterkin and letting the momentum slip away.

Then, with 31.5 seconds left, a failed clear led to the Rangers maintaining possession and finding  Cuylle right in the slot in tight, where he wired home his third of the game for the hat trick and 8-1 final.

Special teams also took a nosedive; while giving up two power-play goals, D.C. went 0-for-3 without generating a lot of good looks.

Ultimately, it was a costly game where Washington needed to show up, and the effort fell flat.

Frustration also boiled over at the end, as Hendrix Lapierre and Noah Laba went toe-to-toe. The Capitals had three players fight by game’s end.