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Capitals Takeaways

Takeaways: Capitals Fall Flat In Forgettable Loss To Flyers

It was a night to forget for the Washington Capitals, who fell 4-1 and didn’t show up in a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

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There was no brotherly love to be had on Wednesday, as the Washington Capitals found themselves run down by the Philadelphia Flyers in a game to forget.

Washington got goals from Garnet Hathaway, Marcus Johansson and T.J. Oshie late, but several miscues, a lack of discipline and a jumbled effort led to a 5-3 loss to Philly.

Here are all the takeaways from the defeat, which ends a seven-game road winning streak.

Special Teams Struggles, Washington Capitals Lack Discipline

One of the other factors that led to Washington's rough night: a lack of discipline. Evgeny Kuznetsov took two penalties, while Alex Ovechkin and Dmitry Orlov also took bad calls that resulted in a total of four power plays for Philadelphia, who went 1-for-4 on the man advantage.

Then, on their only power play of the game, the Capitals surrendered a shorthanded goal after a bad read led to another odd-man break.

Washington was within one with 1:19 left in regulation, but Oshie took a late hook that hindered the Capitals' comeback effort. There was still a chance,  with the goalie pulled at 5-on-5, but another delayed penalty to shut down Konecny on a breakaway led to a slam dunk empty-netter for the hat trick.

Washington Capitals Leave Kuemper Out To Dry & Lack Spark To Start

It wasn't a great showing at all from the Capitals, who again had a less-than-ideal start and fell prey again to sloppy mistakes and bad reads. They gave up the puck on several occasions and surrendered several odd-man rushes.

That left Darcy Kuemper to fend for himself, and though he came up with a few big stops, he didn't have a chance to stop all of them, allowing four goals with a lack of defense helping him out and Travis Konecny and company lurking. He ended up stopping 31 of 35 shots (.886 save percentage).

At the other end of the ice, Washington's lines didn't exactly click. Besides the fourth line, which came up with two goals courtesy of Hathaway and Johansson, there was a lack of offense and sustained pressure in the offensive zone and not a lot of effort through the majority of the game. And, when there was pressure, there was one too many passes and a lack of chemistry, and not enough simplifying and getting pucks on net.

Ultimately, the Flyers were all over the Capitals from the get-go, and their second goal right after Hathaway's again set the tone as they ended up outshooting D.C. 35-29.

Washington Capitals Rally Too Little, Too Late As Nicklas Backstrom Gets First Point

After an underwhelming first 50 minutes of action, Washington made a push late in the game. Johansson kicked things off with a goal in the third with his 11th of the season, capitalizing on an Ivan Provorov turnover to make it 4-2. He now has four points in his last six games.

Then, Nicklas Backstrom, who has been getting back up to game speed after his return from hip resurfacing surgery, got on the scoresheet with a beautiful set-up for a T.J. Oshie goal to make it 4-3 with 5:18 left in regulation. He has three goals in his last four games.

The comeback never came to fruition, though, and the effort came too little, too late.

Additional Ice Chips

– It wasn't an ideal night in the face-off circle, as Nic Dowd went 4-for-13, Dylan Strome went 5-for-13 and Kuznetsov went 9-for-19 on the night.

– Nic Dowd has points in four of his last five outings.

– Nick Jensen set a new single-season career-high in assists with his 16th helper of the season, a beauty to see up Hathaway.

– Backstrom and Tom Wilson appear to be getting more comfortable.