"We'll just keep on working on getting better, and hopefully coming out of this we'll be a little stronger and a little tighter and be that much harder to play against."
Over the life of their six-game losing streak at home, the Caps have held a lead for only 19:22 of the 360 minutes of hockey they've played at Capital One. Since the calendar flipped to 2022, Washington is 2-8-1 in 11 home games, with both victories coming in overtime and in games in which the Caps never held a lead. The Caps have held a lead for only 60:16 of the 664:35 they've played at home since Jan. 1.
Washington's overall record since Jan. 1 - a span of 22 games - is 8-10-2. That's the 26th best mark in the NHL over that span. The Caps went 14-3-5 in their first 22 games of the season, tied for the second-best mark in the League over that stretch. One of the major differences in the two 22-game stretches is the amount of time the Caps held the lead in each.
During the early and prosperous 22-game stretch, Washington held a scoreboard lead for 614:14, the second-best figure in the NHL in that stretch. The Caps trailed for only 229:34 in those 22 games, third least amount of trailing time in that span. Since Jan. 1 however, the Caps have had 350:08 of lead time - most of which has come in road games - to rank 25th in the circuit. Their total of 602:21 trailing is fourth-most in the NHL since the turn of the calendar. (Credit to naturalstattick.com for all the leading/trailing figures in this piece.)
Washington's goaltending has had its ups and downs this season, and that's been particularly true since the beginning of January. The Caps' offense has also been inconsistent over that stretch. The team scored 56 goals at 5-on-5 in the season's first 22 games, leading the League in that department during that period of time. Since Jan. 1 however, the Capitals' total of 37 goals at 5-on-5 ranks tied for 27th in the League, and is only two more than last place San Jose over that span.
In losing their last three games, the Caps have scored only two goals at 5-on-5 - Alex Ovechkin scored Washington's only goal in a 4-1 loss to the Rangers with 62 seconds left in the game, and Conor Sheary tipped home a Nicklas Backstrom point shot in Monday's loss to the Leafs.
"The more bodies we can bring [to the net] on any sort of play - whether it's a shot or a pass or a rebound - the more guys we can bring to the house the better," says Caps defenseman John Carlson. "Ask the goalies how much harder it is when there are multiple options with a screen being the most important one.
"I think that's always our approach, but we can be working towards attacking that a little bit more, and to jump on those pucks because it's not like goalies aren't giving up rebounds; it's not like they just stopped giving them up. Just having more of an attacking mindset will give us better looks, get us more recoveries and chances to stay on the attack."
Washington will be without wingers Carl Hagelin and Joe Snively for Thursday's game. Hagelin had surgery on his eye on Tuesday after suffering an ocular injury late in that day's practice, and he is out indefinitely. Snively had been playing with an upper body injury, but will now need some time for that ailment to heal.
