The Washington Capitals were in for another tough playoff-esque matchup out West as they took on the Minnesota Wild, and though they fought, it wasn't enough.

Washington had control early but stepped off the gas and failed to solve Gustafsson late in a 4-2 loss.

Here are all the takeaways from the team's second consecutive defeat.

Late Rally Comes Up Short, Capitals Lose Control Of Game

Early on, Washington had control of the game, and then things took a turn in the second period when Minnesota went up 3-2. From there, the Capitals battled and rallied to try and force overtime in the third, but it wasn't enough.

Despite chances for Alex Ovechkin and more, Washington couldn't solve Gustavsson after getting two past him early, and Frederick Gaudreau ended any comeback bid late in regulation with an empty-net goal.

Special Teams Costly

The Capitals had a couple of power-play opportunities that could have turned the tide, and though there was more movement on these attempts, it wasn't enough to find twine as the man advantage was held off the board for the 10th straight game, going 0-for-18 over that span.

Washington's strong penalty-killing streak also came to an end, as Frederick Gaudreau deflected a point feed from Matt Boldy past Charlie Lindgren to even the score for the Wild, and in turn, tilt the ice. Prior to Thursday, the Capitals hadn't allowed a pPG in five straight games.

Ultimately, Boldy would come back at the end of the second to give D.C. the lead

Bottom-6 Provides Offense

The Capitals got their offense from the bottom-6 on Thursday, as the third and fourth lines stepped up early to get Washington in on the action.

After going down 1-0 early, Matt Roy got the puck and fired one home through a perfect screen from Andrew Mangiapane to even the score. Taylor Raddysh picked up the primary helper, which marked the 100th point of his NHL career, and Lars Eller also got a helper. Meanwhile, Roy now has points in three of his last four outings.

Then, minutes later, Brandon Duhaime got to the front of the net and picked up a nice feed from Nic Dowd before sniping a quick shot past Filip Gustavsson to make it 2-1. It marked Duhaime's ninth goal of the season, matching the single-season career high he set with no other than Minnesota.