POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Sens 4, Caps 1

Homesick - Groundhog's Day is Feb. 2, but the Capitals seem to be stuck in a Bill Murray loop with their home game outcomes of late. In the wake of Sunday's 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators, the Caps are sitting on a five-game regulation losing streak at home, their longest such streak in nearly 15 years. Sunday's game unfolded like so many here of late; the Caps fell behind early and rallied somewhat, but ultimately weren't able to overcome their early deficit and skated off empty-handed.

Washington went on the penalty kill in the second minute of Sunday afternoon's game, and it killed the penalty without incident, and with Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson combining to expertly rag away some of the two minutes by playing "keep away" with the puck. But that turned out to be the high-water mark of the afternoon for the Caps. They got a power play of their own before the first television timeout of the first period, only to fall behind on a shorthanded goal from Alex Formenton at 5:34 of the first period.
"I definitely think that that's not where you want to start the game," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "Being on the power play is where we want to be, and to make a difference, and it works against you so right away you're digging out of a hole. It's not the start we were looking for with regard to that."
Ottawa had all the offense it would need by the end of the first; Adam Gaudette tacked on a rush goal in transition and the Caps were limited to only Nicklas Backstrom's power play goal in the first minute of the second period. After Sens goalie Anton Forsberg made his best save of the game on Tom Wilson a few minutes later, the Caps never really threatened thereafter.
Aside from a Feb. 8 game against Columbus - the only game of the five straight home losses in which Washington held a lead at any point - the script has been the same. And the only difference in the two home games preceding Washington's current home losing streak was in the results; the Caps never led in those games either, but they rallied to force overtime and then won in the extra session on both Jan. 18 vs. Winnipeg and Jan. 22 vs. Ottawa.
Washington has now won only three of its last 13 home games (3-9-1) and it has managed only one of those wins in regulation, a 6-3 triumph over the Predators on Dec. 29. In that game, the Caps scored three in the first but gave up three in the second to head into the third period all even.
"The last couple of weeks here, we haven't played with that flow like we did earlier, or that mojo like we used to have here," says Backstrom. "I feel like we're just putting ourselves in bad spots - [defensive] zone and neutral zone - and we're not creating as much as we should. I just think that everything needs to be better. I don't know what it is, but I feel like we've just got to just relax and try to play our game here. Because that's not our game."
The Capitals opened the season by taking points in 13 of their first 14 home games (9-1-4), but that seems like a distant memory now that they've lost more than half of their home games for the first time since 2006-07 (17-7-7).
"Listen, we need more from everybody," says Laviolette. "I don't think it's fair to go to one guy. When you're looking to win hockey games, everybody's got to put their hands on the rope, and so we've got to be better inside of that."
Power Move -Backstrom's power-play goal on Sunday was the 80th extra-man tally of his NHL career. He becomes the 36th player in NHL history with at least 80 power-play goals and 300 power-play assists, and he joins Joe Thornton and Sidney Crosby as one of only three active players with that distinction.
Since his rookie season of 2007-08, Backstrom's total of 402 power-play points is second in the NHL, trailing only teammate Alex Ovechkin(425).
Down On The Farm -The AHL Hershey Bears spent Sunday on the road, visiting the Phantoms in Lehigh Valley. Finishing up a busy weekend of three games in as many days, the Bears dropped a 3-2 decision, going 1-2-0 on the weekend.
Hershey grabbed a 1-0 lead at 13:27 of the first on Marcus Vela's fourth goal of the season, Macoy Erkamps and Shane Gersich assisting.
The two teams headed to the third period all even at 1-1, and Lehigh Valley broke the stalemate and went ahead 2-1 on a Morgan Frost goal with 4:16 left in the third. The Phantoms added an empty-net goal in the final minute of regulation for insurance, and that proved big when Hershey's Mason Morelli scored with help from Lucas Johansen and Vela at 19:58 of the third, accounting for the 3-2 final.
Zach Fucale (7-6-4) stopped 18 of 20 shots he faced in a losing effort in the Hershey crease. The 24-15-3-3 Bears are idle until Friday when they visit the P-Bruins in Providence.
By The Numbers -Carlson led the Caps with 23:46 in ice time, with six shots on net, and with 10 shot attempts in Sunday's game … Ovechkin led the Capitals with 10 hits … Martin Fehervary led the Caps with four blocked shots … Nic Dowd won 11 of 16 face-offs (69 percent), Kuznetsov won 10 of 16 (63 percent) and Lars Eller won six of 10 (60 percent).