The Capitals have won just four of the last 13 contests since Dec. 5. What goes into fixing their current woes?
It hasn't been pretty lately for the Washington Capitals.
Washington has dropped nine of the last 13 contests, and despite a handful of convincing wins, they haven't been able to sustain that high level of play.
“Right now we’re finding ways to lose games," Dylan Strome admitted. "That’s something that we’ve got to fix and correct."
What's exactly going wrong for the Capitals, though?
The glaring issue has been consistency through 60 minutes. Washington will either get off to a slower start and find itself unable to claw its way back into a game, or will start strong and then run out of steam.
“I think it’s a little bit of us trying to find some momentum and some confidence as a group," coach Spencer Carbery said. "Then whether it’s line combination wise, playing at a high level... we can dissect it all, we just have to be better with managing the game. It’s not necessarily a low level of play from any individual or our team in general, it’s just (needing to) manage those situations a little bit better."
Diving deeper into the issue at hand, Carbery pointed out that the Capitals have put themselves in tough spots, and it shows.
Since Dec. 5, Washington has struggled when it comes to puck management, with an overall Corsi-for percentage of just 48.29. The team has given up the fifth-most goals in the NHL over that span, along with the third-most overall scoring chances (415) and seventh-most high-danger scoring chances (171). Twenty-five of those high-danger opportunities have ended up in the back of the net, the third-most overall.
"It feels like we're getting caught on the wrong side of pucks, and it seems like every time, they go into the net," Strome said.
Takeaways: Capitals Lose Control In Rough Loss To Senators
The Capitals have dropped seven of the last 11 games overall.
All the while, offense isn't coming easily. The Capitals are still missing top center Pierre-Luc Dubois and were without rookie Ryan Leonard for seven of this 13-game slide. At all strengths, Washington's 43.75 goals-for percentage is the sixth-worst in the league, and its expected goals-for percentage and scoring chances-for percentage also sit under 50 percent.
The power play also continues to struggle, and since that December night against the Anaheim Ducks, ranks second-to-last in the NHL at 13.2 percent, though its recently started to turn around with PPGs in four of the last five.
When it comes down to it, though, the Capitals aren't panicking. At the halfway mark of the season, they remain within four points of first place in the Metropolitan Division, and the Eastern Conference as a whole remains tight.
D.C. is still very much in the mix, and there are nights where the team is playing at a level that showcases just how much damage it can do. Now, it comes down to sustaining that play, and also managing different situations better.
The team could also benefit from some more firepower, whether that comes from more chemistry from different line combinations or individuals stepping up.
That being said, Strome and his teammates have faith that the current group can turn things around.
“We've got to find a way to fix it; this back-and-forth stuff isn’t going to get you very far," Strome said. "We’ve got to find a way to string some wins together and I feel like this team can do that.”