Carbery demands slumping Caps to 'get this thing turned around'

Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery is fed up with his team's play of late and called for improvements individually and collectively following Friday's overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

"Any time you get points in this league it's positive, and it's really, really difficult to get points, especially when you're playing the way that we are right now," Carbery said.

The Capitals have lost five of their past 10 games but have managed to get to overtime in three of those defeats to salvage points. Carbery noted drops in production through the lineup are contributing to Washington's skid.

"It's a struggle, and we've got to get some guys going again," he said. "We got to get some guys getting their seasons turned around because when this drags on, it's not like a three-game slump ... this is turning into 10, 12, 14 games for some guys right now, and that's a large portion of your season. You got to be careful.

"I don't want to sound like a broken record, but we're getting into that territory of this is who you are, as a player and as a team. We got to get this thing turned around."

Forwards Dylan Strome and Connor McMichael are among the players who've seen their production decline of late. Captain Alex Ovechkin has also been held pointless over the past three games.

The Capitals haven't won consecutive games since Dec. 20 and 22. Their lead atop the Metropolitan Division is five points, though they've played fewer games than both the chasing Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils.