PHILADELPHIA — The Washington Capitals have had their struggles on offense over the course of the season, and they fell into the same story against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Ryan Leonard opened the scoring with a power-play goal, but other than that, the offense struggled to get going, and D.C.’s habit of overcomplicating and some lapses in coverage led an eventual 4-1 loss.

Here are the takeaways from the defeat:

Ryan Leonard wasn't on the Capitals' top power-play unit for Wednesday's game, but was first over the boards anyway with Tom Wilson fatigued from his previous shift. Ultimately, it worked out in D.C.'s favor as he extended his hot streak.

Leonard got to the open space in the slot and sniped a quick shot past Samuel Ersson to open the scoring for Washington in the first.

It marked his 13th goal of the season as he extended his point streak to four games, and he has goals in three of those outings. Leonard's 34 points this season are also the fourth-most among all rookies.

Ultimately, Leonard got more time on the second unit while the Capitals continued with Pierre-Luc Dubois on the top unit in his place.

Coach Spencer Carbery also utilized Aliaksei Protas again on the man advantage, putting him out there on PP2.

Washington will continue to evaluate and see where things go when it comes to the man advantage, which now has goals in three of the last four games.

D.C. went 1-for-3 on the night, and Leonard later hit a post on the team’s final chance of the night.

After a smooth first period, Washington fell prey to some miscues as they failed to keep things simple in the second, and Philadelphia took advantage.

First, no one picked up Travis Konecny streaking in backdoor, leading to him going 1-on-1 against Logan Thompson and firing a quick shot that bounced through No. 48.

Then, later in the frame, the Capitals started to generate some pressure, but overcomplicated and overpassed, leading to what was essentially a 2-on-0 break for Owen Tippett and Trevor Zegras. Despite Aliaksei Protas' best efforts on the backcheck, Zegras finished off the play to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.

In the third, Washington again fumbled, letting the Flyers generate a handful of opportunities at 4-on-4 on Logan Thompson. Eventually, a rebound went out to the slot to an uncovered Jamie Drysdale, who beat Thompson to make it 3-1.

Meanwhile, tempers flared as frustration boiled over. Brandon Duhaime got into it with Nikita Grebenkin and Tom Wilson leveled and later scrapped with Travis Konecny. Later in the game, Rasmus Sandin threw Owen Tippett to the ice in frustration.

To open the third, coach Spencer Carbery threw the lines in a blender, reverting to some familiar combinations for the Capitals.

Alex Ovechkin went back to work with Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas, with Tom Wilson later taking Protas' place up top. Wilson also went to work with Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Ryan Leonard and Justin Sourdif got back together on a line, too.

Carbery's hope was that the new combinations could find some chemistry and help ignite a spark for a comeback, but the offense couldn't really get much momentum going.

Washington failed to make passes on the tape, and at times, the team overpassed rather than going for the clean shot. The puck also seemed to be bouncing quite a bit, which made things more difficult for D.C.

The Capitals also struggled to finish on their scoring chances while failing to generate a lot of quality chances on Samuel Ersson. They pulled Thompson for the extra attacker to try to rally late, but it wasn’t enough as Tippett iced the game late with an empty-netter.

The Capitals also got to see one of their new acquisitions play their first game in Washington colors, as Timothy Liljegren drew into the lineup for the first time.

Liljegren started on the third pairing with Martin Fehervary, but also got some shifts with Matt Roy and others as he continued to acclimate and get used to the systems.

The Swedish blueliner showcased his smooth-skating ability and two-way play, while also battling hard to keep Philadelphia's forwards out of the crease and doing what he could to shut down high-danger chances. Offensively, he helped cycle the puck and generate a couple of looks.

Liljegren finished the night with a team-leading three blocks. He also took a necessary holding penalty to shut down what could have been a breakaway bid for Owen Tippett.