Capitals are sloppy and a step slow in 3-1 loss to Flyers, continuing their bubble struggles

The young defenseman drew Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby to commit, then flipped the puck against his momentum and into the net for the Flyers’ second goal in a 3-1 win at Scotiabank Arena. The sequence was emblematic of the Capitals’ play — undisciplined and packed with glaring defensive-zone breakdowns and unforced errors.

“There’s another gear, another level to our game that we haven’t gotten to yet since we’ve been here,” Coach Todd Reirden said. “And breakdowns ended up in the back of our net today. … You need everybody’s top game. And we didn’t have that tonight. That’s really, to me, the story of this game is that we need more from everybody.”

The loss, Washington’s second in two games of the round-robin stage, further fueled concerns about the team’s play in the bubble. These were supposed to be tuneups for a confident Capitals team, but each loss has sapped that confidence a little more as the playoffs’ first round creeps up.

Washington’s three round-robin games will determine seeding in the next round, which begins Tuesday. The Capitals lost, 3-2, in a shootout to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday and will play the Boston Bruins on Sunday in their last game of the round-robin stage. The loss to the Flyers ensures Washington will enter the first round as the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Capitals’ lone goal came at 8:49 of the third period, with Travis Boyd recording his first playoff tally to cut the Flyers’ lead to 3-1. Scott Laughton had scored his second goal of the night — and Philadelphia’s third goal of the game — only 12 seconds earlier.

The Capitals paraded to the penalty box in the first two periods, getting dinged for seven minors.

“We have to handle ourselves a little bit better emotionally,” center Nic Dowd said. “Seven penalties in that game for us, and it takes away from our five-on-five game, and that’s where our team is at its best. It gives us a chance to draw penalties and put our high-caliber guys on the ice to score goals and also when we’re playing five-on-five we can roll all four lines and I think we have a lot of depth, and that plays to our advantage.”

The team’s sixth penalty proved most costly. With the Flyers holding a 1-0 lead after Laughton’s first goal, an interference call on defenseman Michal Kempny with 11:08 left in the middle frame negated a power play and instead forced a spell of four-on-four.

Hayes then proceeded to burn a step-slow Capitals group by sliding a perfect pass to Sanheim. The Capitals were never able to recover from the communication breakdown.

“It’s a breakdown in coverage, and they take advantage of it,” Reirden said. “It’s individual responsibilities that happen from mistakes prior to that. That’s how goals happen, and we have to execute better with the puck to give ourselves the chance to play in the offensive zone. We need to be better; we need more from everybody right down our list.”

Washington led the league in minor penalties during the regular season. Among some of the offenses Thursday included a boarding call on Tom Wilson early in the game, tripping on Brenden Dillon, tripping on Evgeny Kuznetsov and a hooking call on Carl Hagelin. While the Capitals’ penalty kill managed to hold for all six Flyers’ chances, the team was playing with fire.

The Capitals also had a brief scare at the end of the first period when Kuznetsov fell awkwardly after getting tangled up with Connor Bunnaman behind the Washington net.

Kuznetsov immediately reached for his left ankle before limping to the bench. He took the ice for the ensuing Capitals’ power play, playing a shift, but came off, putting little weight on his left leg. He left the bench before the end of the period but returned for the second period, and he finished with 13 minutes of ice time.

Aside from his early fall, Kuznetsov appeared to be benched for the last half of the third period. He did not skate the final 11 minutes after he was on the ice for Laughton’s second goal of the night, in which the Russian center was caught flat-footed in another defensive-zone breakdown.

“How we break down ice time and use certain guys, we’re going with who’s playing the best at that time,” Reirden said when asked why Kuznetsov missed time in the third. “We need a different level of play, and we know we have it. It’s not a secret. We have a different level of play, and we need to get to it if we want to have success. We need more from everybody, and we didn’t have that.”

Besides the slight injury scare to Kuznetsov, the Capitals played their second straight game without defenseman John Carlson. Carlson suffered an undisclosed injury in the team’s 3-2 exhibition victory July 29 against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Washington was also without center Lars Eller, who returned to the D.C. area Wednesday afternoon for the birth of his second child. Eller must quarantine upon returning to the Toronto and cannot hit the ice with his teammates until he can produce at least four consecutive negative tests over a four-day period.

With two regulars out of the lineup, the Capitals’ depth was again tested. Radko Gudas filled in for Carlson, skating alongside Kempny, and Boyd took Eller’s spot on the third line.

The Capitals’ flaws showed in the first period, when they got into penalty trouble early, saw an avoidable turnover from Gudas turned into a goal in the middle of the frame, then came up empty-handed off a pair of power plays late.

After not being put on the penalty kill in their first round-robin game against Tampa Bay, the Capitals had back-to-back shorthanded chances and killed both — despite playing without Eller, a mainstay on the penalty kill.

The Capitals failed to get any sense of offensive-zone time and managed only five shots on goal in the opening frame. Their first shot on goal came 9:42 in, off the stick of Alex Ovechkin. Washington finished with 17 shots on goal.

“You have to work a lot harder to score goals [in the playoffs],” T.J. Oshie said. “You got to work harder to get in position to score goals, and things happen a lot faster. So we definitely need more offense. If not goals, then at least chances and momentum from the top six here.”