Morning After Forum: Where Is The Capitals' Killer Instinct? Consistency, Kuemper & Are Playoffs A Reality?

WASHINGTON — Thursday was a tough night in the Nation's Capital, as a night that started off decently for the Washington Capitals soured into a 4-1 loss to the red-hot Seattle Kraken.

Washington got a lone goal from Max Pacioretty, but otherwise, it was the same story on a different night as this team dropped its sixth decision in eight games since returning from the holiday break.

We reopened the "Morning After" Forum to discuss the defeat, but also break down some of the issues surrounding the team. And the biggest, as the players put it, is the lack of offense.

Let's chat.

This is something that John Carlson mentioned last week after the 6-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes: the Capitals need to find that "killer instinct," and for one reason or another, it's just not there this season.

Watching Washington on Thursday, the team got a couple of decent looks and was actually in good shape a few minutes in. Then, the Capitals stepped off the gas.

For a lot of the night, Washington was kept to the perimeter — and that was an easy feat to accomplish. 

On the few occasions that the Capitals did get to the inside, good things happened, as Nick Jensen drew a penalty while Connor McMichael got a great 1-on-1 chance with Joey Daccord but just couldn't put it home.

But the key word is few. Washington failed to really generate a lot of high-danger chances at 5-on-5, and that has been the story since the start of the season. Looking at Capitals' teams of the past, goals weren't hard to come by. Now, getting over two in a game is a true challenge.

Max Pacioretty made a great point postgame: the team needs to simplify and get some dirty goals going. Watching Washington, players are too often looking for the perfect play, which forces them into tough spots, leads to turnovers or lost battles and, of course, can waste time as the team fails to get a shot off.

To get that instinct back, the Capitals need to be better on the transition and breakout, but they also have to get dirty and start getting to the inside. Goals are hard enough to come by in this league, and if a team can't manage at least two in a game, making the playoffs is going to be a challenge.

This is a good segue into talking about Darcy Kuemper. The netminder, who stood on his head en route to a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday, was by no means perfect on Thursday as he surrendered four goals on 23 shots.

The first two were difficult, as he was caught cheating and lost sight of the puck for one reason or another. However, his defensemen screening him are also to blame there.

Although looking at the numbers for the veteran this season indicates things haven't been the prettiest, there's a need to lighten up on Kuemper because he's not doing a terrible job. In fact, his advanced analytics indicate he's actually doing everything he can at his end, but the team's defensive mistakes and errors aren't helping, especially when the red-hot Kraken are left to get the shots that they did.

And then, it goes back to that killer instinct: if you only score once, the goaltender is faced with an even taller task to steal a win, and at the end of the day, it's not fair. Even if it's a Vezina winner between the pipes, your team isn't going to win every game by scoring one goal and failing to generate chances.

Another ailment for this hockey club: consistency. On one night, Washington will pull together and find a way to win, and on another night, all hope seems lost. This was the stark difference between Sunday and Thursday, as Sunday didn't appear in doubt even when the score was in Los Angeles' favor. Thursday, there didn't seem to be a lot of hope or push.

The Capitals know Seattle is good and is currently riding a hot streak, and the same goes for goaltender Joey Daccord. But at the end of the day, they just couldn't recapture that spark from Sunday, and it cost them two points.

But things shouldn't necessarily be all doom and gloom in the District yet. The playoff race is still incredibly close, and Washington is three points out of the second Wild Card spot with plenty of time to operate.

There's also no reason to lose confidence in the coaching staff. Spencer Carbery and his staff are just 39 games into their tenure, and there are positives and negatives, as is the case with any staff, but at the end of the day, things fall on the players, too, to get things going.

The Capitals can still turn things around and strike the right balance with lines. The Ovechkin-Strome-Pacioretty line is a strong trio that generated quite a few looks and got the lone goal. Other combinations may need some more work, though.

Still, time goes by fast, and if the teams around D.C. continue to rack up points, things are only going to get harder.

So at the end of the day, there's a hard truth for the Capitals: The only way to stop the bleeding now is to find that spark — and fast.