POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Canes 6, Caps 1

Brand New Start -Slow starts have plagued the Caps at times over the course of this season, but Washington has also shown an ability to bounce back and to comeback from sluggish starts. Finishing up their March schedule on Monday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Caps were unable to shake a slow start against one of the League's elite teams, and they suffered a 6-1 setback, their first loss in four games against Carolina this season.

Carolina put crooked numbers on the board in each of the game's first two periods, taking a 2-0 lead before the game was eight minutes old. It marked the first time this season that the Canes managed to build a multiple-goal cushion against the Capitals.
Washington came out with more verve in the second period, and it cut the Carolina lead to 2-1 on a Tom Wilson goal just after a Caps power play expired. Four seconds after Wilson's goal, Carolina took the second of what would be three cross-checking minors on the night, putting Washington right back on the power play and giving the Caps a chance to pull even.
But late in that man advantage, Carolina's Sebastian Aho won a race to a loose puck, swung wide around Caps forward Marcus Johansson - the lone man back in a red sweater - and tucked the puck in the net for a 3-1 Carolina lead.
Aho's shorthanded goal is the eighth Washington has surrendered this season; only New Jersey (11) and Los Angeles (nine) have permitted more.
Minutes later, the Caps broke down during a 4-on-4 stretch, giving Brett Pesce more than enough time and space to beat Vitek Vanecek from in tight, and the rout was on. The Caps went to the room down 5-1 after two periods; and it was essentially over when Aho administered the shorthanded dagger.
The Caps will now have to sit with this setback for several days; they're not back in action until Sunday when they host Minnesota.
"We don't really get to decide where it is," says Caps winger Garnet Hathaway, referring to Washington's lengthy break between games. "So we're going to make the most of it right now.
"I think you could really look at this game and really want to get back into the rink and turn things around. The situation that we have is that we have a couple of days off. We'll have to digest it and we'll have to get past it, and we'll have a few days of practice to work on things so that it doesn't happen again."
At Home He's a Tourist - Monday's loss was Washington's third in its last four games, but the Caps' woes at Capital One Arena extend back much further than that. The Caps started off the season playing well on home ice, picking up at least a point in 13 of their first 14 games (9-1-4) there this season. But since then, the struggle has been real.
Beginning with a Dec. 10 loss to Pittsburgh, the Caps have managed only seven wins in their last 21 home games (7-13-1). With a 16-14-5 overall record on home ice this season, Washington has lost three more games than it has won at home, and it now has six games remaining in the District this season. The last time the Caps finished the season with more losses than wins at home was 2006-07, when they won 17 of their 41 home games (17-17-7).
"I think a big part of it is the mindset we have going into it," says Hathaway. "And I think if you look at it, we have a really good road record. So it's trying to figure out not what we're doing wrong here, but what we're doing right on the road, and how to translate that to do it at home.
"We've talked about it a lot. You want to be good at home. It's important to be good at home; it's why guys play for home ice advantage. It's one of those [things] that I can't put my finger on it. But I know how hard we go into games on the road. I know the mentality we have; we play faster. So it's [about] getting that mindset of being able to do it in Cap One in front of our fans, because it's not acceptable, not doing it."
Since the beginning of the 2007-08 season, the Caps' 356-15-64 record (.680 points pct.) on home ice is second best among all NHL clubs, trailing only Pittsburgh (.696).
When The Whip Comes Down -Coming the day before his 28th birthday,Wilson's goal was his 21st of the season, and it extended his point streak to four games (two goals, three assists). Already having established a single-season career high with 47 points (21 goals, 26 assists) this season, Wilson can now set his sights on matching and exceeding his career best in goals - he scored 22 times in 2018-19 - and on reaching the 50-point plateau for the first time.
In the third period, Wilson challenged Carolina's Brendan Smith to answer for his transgressions - namely cross-checking T.J. Oshie in the first period and Nick Jensen in the second - and gave him a thorough tune-up.
For Wilson, Monday's fight was just his fifth fighting major in 64 games this season. In three of those five instances, Wilson's opponent was also assessed an additional minor that put Washington on the power play.
By The Numbers - The Caps concluded March with a 9-3-1 record … John Carlson led the Caps with 20:38 in ice time … Alex Ovechkin led the Caps with seven shots on net and 11 shot attempts … Martin Fehervary led Washington with seven hits … Hathaway led the Caps with two blocked shots … Evgeny Kuznetsov won six of 10 draws (60 percent).