Caps drop seventh straight

The Washington Capitals will have a few off days now to meet and ry and figure out how the wheels have come their bus.

A team meeting earlier in the week has had no effect and the Caps lost their seventh straight game, this time to the Toronto Maples, 6-3.

Nazem Kadri picked up a hat trick in the win.

“We wanted this one for sure,” Kadri said. “We wanted to feel good about ourselves heading into the break and I think we achieved that. Previous games we felt like we’ve been trending in the right direction, but we just hadn’t been getting the results. But it’s definitely nice to play a full 60 minutes and beat a good team like that.”

Frederik Andersen made 41 saves to get the win.

“It’s gone now, that’s it. We have an [All-Star Game break], let’s move on,” Alex Ovechkin said. “I think we made too many mistakes, all of us. We know the system, it works, but we try to do too much. Right now, we need the break. We’re going to take it, relax and enjoy time with the families and friends and come back ready to go.”

Nicklas Backstrom, Ovechkin and Matt Niskanen scored for the Caps.

“We all need to step up here, we all need to play better as a team,” Backstrom said. “I think we’re not happy the way we’re playing. That’s something we need to think about over the break here. I think all over the ice is concerning. I shouldn’t say concerning, but we need better efforts from everybody.”

The Caps dropped to 27-17-6.

Nikita Zaitsev,Auston Matthews and Mitchell Marner also scored for the Leafs.

Matthews snapped a seven-game goal drought.

“It felt pretty good, especially going into the break,” Matthews said. “Kind of takes your mind off it a little bit. Let’s you enjoy San Jose (at the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend), enjoy the couple days you get off and just get your mind off everything.”

Toronto improved to 30-17-2.

[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Maple Leafs highlights]

Braden Holtby made 31 saves in the loss.

“The overall commitment and mental lapses probably have affected our detail in some areas and it caught up with us. We got away with it for obviously a great stretch where we [won 16 of 19 from Nov. 16-Dec. 29] and things were going our way, but right now, they’re not,” Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said. “That’s on our coaching staff and players to realize that and continue to realize what the game needs to look like for us to have success.”