The Washington Capitals have hit an offensive dry spell, scoring no more than two goals in any of their last four games. The recent struggles peaked on Tuesday night when the Caps dropped their third game in a row and were shut out for just the second time this season by the Minnesota Wild.
After a strong end to November and start to December saw them climb to the top of the Eastern Conference, the team’s recent string of losses has seen them fall out of the top three spots in the Metropolitan Division and into fifth in the conference. While some of the inconsistency can be chalked up to the ebbs and flows of an 82-game season, head coach Spencer Carbery believes the Capitals still have some concerning issues to address.
“We’re going to have to continue to work to manufacture offense,” Carbery told 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies on Wednesday morning. “Scoring goals and our forward group, and an ability to create offense and finish, is always going to be our Achilles heel. It’s just how we’re built. And with a 40-year-old Alex Ovechkin and, you know, go down the list of our forward group, it’s just always going to be something that we’re going to have to continue to work on.
“You’re going to have points in the season where it’s going really well, like it was for 10, 12 games there. And then you’re going to have points where it dries up a little bit, and guys are not finishing at a high rate because we don’t have those really, really high, high-end difference makers in our forward group that can do some of those things. So we’ve got to do it by committee.”
Since Thanksgiving, the Capitals are averaging just 2.89 goals per game, which ranks 19th in the NHL. That mark comes despite the team’s 7-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks at the start of this month. Without that lopsided win, they’re averaging just 2.38 goals per game over that stretch.
Part of those struggles falls back on the club’s power-play group, which is going through yet another rough patch this season. They have just one goal on their last 15 opportunities and gave up a shorthanded goal to Minnesota’s Matt Boldy in the 5-0 loss to the Wild.
After righting the ship late this fall, the Capitals have sunk back to just 28th in the league in power-play effectiveness (15.6 percent) this season.
The recent loss of rookie winger Ryan Leonard to a long-term injury certainly does not help scoring woes, as the 20-year-old forward had eight points (2g, 6a) in his last six games before getting hurt. Leonard had also brought a level of stability to the first power-play unit and was the primary source of one-on-one, game-breaking ability that Carbery says the Capitals lack.
“There’s a really good example of someone when you’re struggling to score, and I’ll give you a prime example, the San Jose game,” Carbery said. “He makes two plays in that game, where those are elite, elite high-end plays where he beats a guy one-on-one, similar to what Tarasenko did to us last night or Matt Boldy from Minnesota. He takes a puck, he turns the defender inside out, and he shoots it in the back of the net.”
Carbery continued, “Same thing with his first goal. He makes a real nice play of having the patience in front of Askarov and outwaiting him. So those are the plays right now that we’re not getting, and Leno has the ability to do that. So, to your point, you do miss that element of what he can bring.”
After Tuesday night’s shutout, the Capitals do not currently have a player averaging over a point per game this season, with Tom Wilson’s 32 points (17g, 15a) in 33 games leading the way. Carbery’s assertion of specifically what the Caps lack on their roster comes after a few failed attempts by team management to address some of those concerns.
Over the summer, the Capitals tried to ink free-agent winger Nikolaj Ehlers to a long-term contract but were ultimately beaten out by the Carolina Hurricanes. More recently, the team reportedly had interest in acquiring star offensive-defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks, but Hughes eventually ended up with the Wild.