The Capitals stressed the need for more scoring and opportunities at 5-on-5.
WASHINGTON — For the Washington Capitals, Thursday was a different day with an all-too-similar story, one that they've seen too many times this season and are ultimately tired of telling: a lack of offense proved costly once again, and this time, it resulted in a 4-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken.
Max Pacioretty scored the lone goal, his first since returning from a re-torn Achilles, but other than that, Washington struggled to solve a red-hot Joey Daccord.
"We got to work harder, and I think we should really embrace that every night is going to be a grind," Pacioretty said postgame.
The chances were there early for the Capitals, who were outshooting the Kraken 5-0 early in the first period and seemed to be generating some decent opportunities. After the Kraken struck first, though, things started to go downhill, and Seattle was able to tilt the ice back as the game went on.
Then, there was an issue of generating high-quality chances, getting the puck to the inside and ultimately, driving the play up ice.
"I think it kind of starts all over the ice. I think we probably just weren't sharp enough in transition, on breakouts to get a little more odd-man rushes. Their forwards do a good job of coming back and their D really hold the inside and kinda let their forwards do their work. The 2-on-1 is with the forward, and we didn't really take advantage of that tonight on any rushes," T.J. Oshie explained. "Then in-zone, just not enough to the interior. They did a great job, but you still gotta get in there. We still had some chances, I had two on the power play and then a 2-on-1 with Kuzy that you know, you pop one of those before they get that fourth one, you never know at the end."
Connor McMichael agreed, adding that he believed his team made it a bit too easy on Daccord, who has been one of the league's top netminders of late.
"We got chances, but I don't think we got him moving enough," he lamented, adding, "I don't think we got him sliding around... you gotta get him to move and get traffic in front of him. I think we have to do a better job of that."
Through 39 games now, Washington ranks third-to-last in goals for per game (2.36).
At the end of the day, Pacioretty said that there's an easy solution for the Capitals to spark some offense, especially when it comes to 5-on-5 scoring.
"I think simplifying. I know it's a cliché, easy answer, but we don't seem to generate too much when we have those long shifts or passing around the perimeter... I think we got to get dirty... it's no secret."