POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Leafs 6, Caps 3

Seven Down - Washington's longest losing streak in five years reached seven games (0-5-2) on Wednesday night in Toronto when the Caps fell 5-2 to the Maple Leafs. The Caps scored first and twice owned a one-goal lead, but weren't able to add to it. Although some facets of their overall game showed glimmers of improvement, they were ultimately bitten by too many of the issues that have plagued them over the last 13 games, in which they've gone just 3-7-3.

Now, the Caps will have a week to stew on that seven-game slide, the longest one they've endured since a seven-game drought (0-5-2) from Jan. 12-24, 2014.
"It's obviously tough to go on the break with a seven-game losing streak," says Nicklas Backstrom. "It's tough, but at the same time it's good mentally to just get away from hockey and get a fresh start next week."

While the Caps' forecheck and their offensive zone presence both showed some improvement on Wednesday, it was far from enough to stop the streak because they were also bitten by several of their recent issues.
For the fourth time in the last five games, the Caps were victimized by a opponent's hat trick performance. They gave up Toronto's first goal a shift after they scored their own first goal, and they gave up that first Leafs goal in the final minute of the first period. A couple of failed Washington clears enabled the Leafs to score on their only power play chance of the night, and Toronto scored four unanswered goals to erase a one-goal Caps' lead.
Over the previous 13 games, all of the above-mentioned maladies have cost the Caps on multiple occasions.
"I think every time you have a losing streak like this, you've got to find a way," says Backstrom. "Everyone needs to chip in and everyone needs to work like a team. It's easy when you have a losing streak to get frustrated and stuff like that. It's not going to get any better if you do that; you've got to stay positive and make sure you work hard and have a positive attitude. That's what I think is going to change this."
Change is going to have to start in the Caps' own end of the ice as well. Washington has yielded 21 goals in its last three games and 36 during the seven-game slide.

Tied For The Top Spot - With his 37th goal of the season early in the second period of Wednesday's game, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin notched the 1,179th point (644-535-1179) of his NHL career to tie Hockey Hall of Famer and former Caps teammate Sergei Fedorov for the top spot on the NHL's list for most points by a Russian-born player.
"Of course it's special, of course it's nice, of course it's a big privilege," says Ovechkin, "especially when you play together and you learn a lot from that legend. I'm pretty sure Feds is happy it's me and nobody else."
Ovechkin matched Fedorov's total in 195 fewer games, and the two Russians are tied for 49th place on the league's all-time scoring list, five points behind Rod Brind'Amour for 48th place.
"You can't say enough about what he has done for the growth of the game, the National Hockey League, in Russia and what he has done as a Russian player," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "The accomplishments has had are amazing, and they speak for themselves. But how he is able to do it year after year after year in different ways, is a real credit to how his game is still growing. He still wants to get better every day and that's the thing that makes him so special."

Seven Up - Matt Niskanen netted his seventh goal of the season late in the third period, matching his total from 68 games last season. He has seven goals in 48 games this season, one behind John Carlson for the team lead among defensemen. Niskanen's single-season career high is 10 goals, established in 2013-14 when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Moving Forward -The Caps will be thrilled to leave January behind. This month's schedule was easily the roughest patch the Caps will have to deal with this season, and they managed just a 3-6-3 mark while playing a dozen games in just 21 nights, a stretch that included three sets of back-to-backs, five road trips and games against each of the league's four stingiest defensive teams.
When the Caps get back to action on Feb. 1 against Calgary, the schedule gets more favorable the rest of the way. Washington will play only three sets of back-to-back games over the final 65 days of the schedule, and will frequently play every other day, a scheduling feature that has enabled the team to develop a favorable rhythm and groove over the last few seasons.

Mad Hatters - Nazem Kadri notched a hat trick for the Maple Leafs in Wednesday's game, the fourth hat trick the Caps have surrendered in the last five games over a span of nine nights. Kadri's hat trick was also the third against the Caps in as many games.
Nashville's Viktor Arvidsson scored three goals against Washington on Jan. 15, Chicago's Jonathan Toews did so on Jan. 20 and San Jose's Tomas Hertl turned the trick on Jan. 22.
Prior to this run of hat tricks, you'd have to go back 292 regular season games to account for the previous four hat tricks against Washington.
Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were on the road on Wednesday, facing the Phantoms in Lehigh Valley. While the Bears weren't able to extend their season-high five-game winning streak, they did collect a point in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Phantoms.
Hershey took a 1-0 lead on Connor Hobbs' third goal of the season at 13:08 of the first, Garrett Pilon and Nathan Walker assisting. The Bears nursed that lead into the third before the Phantoms pulled even on a Greg Carey power-play goal early in the final frame.
Carey was the only shooter to score in the shootout, lifting Lehigh Valley. Ilya Samsonov made 25 saves in a losing effort; his record now stands at 9-11-1 on the season.
The seventh-place Bears (20-20-0-3) will be back in action on Saturday night when they host the Laval Rocket at Giant Center.
By The Numbers - John Carlson led the Caps with 24:50 in ice time and with five blocked shots … Lars Eller led the Caps with five shots on net and nine shot attempts … Tom Wilson led the Caps with six hits … Washington won only 21 of 59 face-offs (36 percent) in the game.