3 least impressive players from Washington Capitals' 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning feat. Tom Wilson

On Saturday afternoon, the Washington Capitals lost 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena. It was their third straight defeat. The Caps fall to 38-14-8 (84 points) with the loss, while the Bolts improve to 35-20-4 (74 points).

Washington had lost back-to-back home games to Calgary and St. Louis by a combined 8-3 margin heading into Saturday, while Tampa was red-hot, winners of seven consecutive games. Something had to give, and Tampa Bay continued its dominant stretch of play to beat the Caps.

After killing off an early game penalty, Jakob Chychrun thought he started the scoring for the Caps with a snipe from the point. Unfortunately, it got called back as the Lightning challenged for a missed stoppage in play because of a high stick. To rub salt into the wound, Tampa Bay gained plenty of momentum from the disallowed goal.

Mitchell Chaffee buried a Brayden Point rebound on the power play and the Bolts took a 1-0 lead late in the first period. That 1-0 score held after the opening period of play.

Washington had two power play opportunities to begin the second period but came up empty on both. Aside from that, it was a fairly low-event middle frame in DC. The Capitals outshot the Lightning 8-6 in the period but were still unable to put anything past Andrei Vasilevskiy. 1-0 Tampa heading into the third.

The Caps came out with a strong push to start the third period, but Gage Goncalves squashed it on Tampa Bay's first shot of the period to extend the lead to two goals.

Washington couldn't get much going the rest of the afternoon until Alex Ovechkin buried goal #884 to give the Capitals some life. They pulled the goalie late in the third period, but that was as close as they'd come. Brandon Hagel added an empty-net insurance marker as the Tampa Bay Lightning took down Washington 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

NHL: Chaffee celebrates a goal against Washington - Source: Imagn

The Washington Capitals will cap off this five-game homestand on Monday night when they host the Ottawa Senators. The puck drops at 6:30 p.m. ET at Capital One Arena.

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3 least impressive players from the Washington Capitals' 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning

#1. Tom Wilson

It was a tough afternoon for Tom Wilson. The winger was held pointless and had a -1 rating in 20:59 of action.

Wilson also took a tripping penalty on Nikita Kucherov in the first period, which led to a Mitchell Chaffee power play goal. Wilson's had a great season and can be expected to bounce back moving forward.

#2. John Carlson

John Carlson also struggled somewhat against Tampa Bay. The Caps' No. 1 defenseman went pointless and had a -1 rating in 22:13 minutes of ice time.

Carlson had one giveaway and had some issues running the point on the top power-play unit. The Caps will need more from him to get out of their funk.

#3. Dylan Strome

Dylan Strome was far too quiet on Sunday afternoon. Washington's leading point producer was held off the scoresheet and recorded just one shot on goal in 18:44 minutes played.

With just four goals in their last three games, the Capitals need their top players to start producing like it to break this mini-slump.