per Money Puck<\/a>, the fifth-most expected goals (41.36) at all strengths. This means the Capitals are failing to convert on their chances, leaving approximately 13 goals off the table. Their only saving grace has been their goaltending.<\/p>\nThe Capitals\u2019 latest defeat, due to their inept offense, came on Friday in a 3-1 home loss to the New York Islanders, who had played the night before. The Caps dominated in the first period, outshooting a tired Isles team 13 to 6, but couldn\u2019t score. The Islanders eventually found their sea legs in the final 40 minutes and beat Logan Thompson twice, just enough to seal the victory.<\/p>\n
Th failing marked the Capitals\u2019 third straight loss, a span during which the team has scored only twice and has been outscored by their opponents a combined 11-2. The poor stretch led multiple team leaders to say Friday night that the Capitals needed to find another level in their game and play harder. Aliaksei Protas went a step further and issued an apology to fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know it\u2019s not a fun time to watch us right now,\u201d Protas said postgame. \u201cGrateful to those fans who stayed with us until the end and watch us and support us. We really appreciate that. We take full responsibility, and we\u2019ll be better for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cObviously, the whole course of this losses is frustrating for sure. We\u2019re having a tough time finding offense right now. And, we\u2019ll find it. You know, we\u2019re staying together. We believe we\u2019re a good team.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the Capitals\u2019 biggest struggles has been its power play, where the team is converting on only 16.7 percent of its chances \u2014 the ninth-worst conversion rate in the NHL. The Caps went 0 for 4 against the Islanders, managing only three shots total \u2014 two from Alex Ovechkin and one from Anthony Beauvillier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we were overthinking sometimes, like we just got to start to make it simple,\u201d Protas explained. \u201cI think we just got to be like all together at the same page. Start to make simple plays and go from there. But it\u2019s like nothing will work without the work ethic, you know? Like working off the puck to support each other, sacrifice for each other. Sometimes take a hit to make the play. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re doing a good job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capitals alternate captain Tom Wilson, who has scored three of the team\u2019s six power-play goals this season, was more blunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not good enough, obviously,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cIt\u2019s on the players on the ice at the end of the day to go out and make it happen. I don\u2019t want to talk too much about it. It\u2019s just not good enough. We\u2019ve got to fix it quickly. It\u2019s costing us games.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Capitals have been without Dylan Strome for two games and without Pierre-Luc Dubois five times to start the season, with PLD suffering another injury last night against the Islanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s going to have to step up,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some big names out. It\u2019s not an excuse. Just everyone just needs to give a little bit more. Each guy is going to have to collectively try and fill those voids. It\u2019s not new to anyone. That\u2019s hockey. It\u2019s part of the gig. We just got to pull together and play well as a group, make plays, get our confidence back, and win some hockey games starting [Saturday] night (against the Buffalo Sabres).\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cWe need better, 10 percent better from every guy, myself included, and we\u2019ll be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Capitals have been good at generating chances, but have had a tough time scoring goals early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-265741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}