After scoring just 11 points this season, including a drought lasting 27 games, Mike Knuble was a healthy scratch Thursday night based on performance for the first time in his three seasons with the Capitals. At 39 years old, there are some rumblings his career might be over. I hope not, because his lack of performance is not all on his shoulders.

 Exhibit A: Knuble generated scoring chances.

Among the seven skaters who generated fewer scoring chance, all have at least as many goals as Knuble and five of them lit the lamp more often. Knuble converted on just 7 percent of his scoring chances, which is half the league average (14 percent). If he had more "puck luck" like Dennis Wideman (40 percent) or Marcus Johansson (22 percent) his offensive output looks a lot different.

After they scored one goal during a two-man advantage with their goaltender pulled, all the Winnipeg Jets needed to pull even with the Capitals Thursday night was 12 seconds.

On the shift following Evander Kane’s goal, Dustin Byfuglien leaned into a booming slap shot from the red line — a shot that likely should have been harmless. Instead, the shot deflected off defenseman Karl Alzner as he stood at the blueline causing the puck to change directions and evade goaltender Tomas Vokoun.

“There’s really nothing,” Alzner said when asked what he could do differently on the play. “If I get out of the way earlier than that he just skates in. If I try to block the dump in, who knows what happens. It’s just one of those that caught Vokey, I think, trying to stop the dump in so we could turn it up and was a little bit out of the net.”

(John McDonnell - The Washington Post) Late in the third period Thursday night, the Capitals were protecting a two-goal lead when defenseman Roman Hamrlik was whistled for slashing. That call itself might not have been enough to get the Winnipeg Jets back in the game but a broken-stick call soon after would ultimately change the outcome.

Winnipeg pulled goaltender Ondrej Pavelec to create a 6-on-4 advantage on the power play and with those already-lopsided numbers, Brooks Laich blocked a shot by Dustin Byfuglien just inside the Capitals’ blueline.

Laich turned to retrieve the loose puck, fighting off Byfuglien in the process, and sent a centering pass to a teammate in order to try to clear the puck out of the zone. As he made that play, Laich didn’t realize that his stick was broken from blocking the shot.

“If you have a couple seconds you can check [the stick] out,” Laich said. “In a bang-bang play it’s pretty -- especially with four minutes left already down 6-on-4 -- it’s pretty tough to take a second to check your stick when a puck’s up for [grabs].”

This game slipped through the Capitals’ grasp within a span of 12 seconds. A few seconds that included an unexpected broken-stick call on Brooks Laich, a six-on-three power play for the Winnipeg Jets and a shot from the red line that redirected off Karl Alzner then found its way into the net.

Those 12 seconds were all the Jets needed to force overtime and serve as a catalyst for a 3-2 shootout win at Verizon Center on Thursday night.

It was a stunning turnaround after the Capitals seized a two-goal lead in the third period, but relinquishing that advantage ultimately cost them an important point in the tight Eastern Conference standings. (More on Laich’s penalty and Dustin Byfuglien’s goal that went off Alzner tomorrow, which is an off day for the Capitals).

“Right now we’re not OK with just one point,” Troy Brouwer said. “We feel two should’ve been ours and they should’ve been [leaving] with none. That’s hockey, I guess. It’s how things happen. We’ve just got to try and make sure that we’re getting points and when we have leads, we’ve got to protect those leads.”

Chat about the game in the comments section below and check back here before faceoff for Washington’s lineup.

Faceoff: 7 p.m., Verizon Center | TV: CSN | Radio: 1500 AM

Based on warmup here is what the lineup should look like against the Jets:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Johansson-Brouwer
Chimera-Perreault-Semin
Hendricks-Halpern-Ward
Aucoin-Laich-Beagle

Defense
Schultz-Wideman
Alzner-Carlson
Hamrlik-Orlov

Goal
Vokoun
Neuvirth

Scratches: Mike Knuble and John Erskine.
Injured reserve: Nicklas Backstrom (concussion) and Mike Green (sports hernia) on LTI.