40 – Number of five-on-five shot attempts taken by the line of Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Troy Brouwer over the last ten games (15, 17 and 8, respectively), 26 of which have been put on goal, with three finding the back of the net.
As points of reference, Alex Ovechkin has attempted 56 shots over the same span, put 40 on net, scoring on three, and Nicklas Backstrom has gotten 24 of his 26 shot attempts on-goal, with five ending up in goal.
As further points of reference, the “second” line (usually Brooks Laich, Eric Fehr and Joel Ward) has combined for 80 shot attempts, while the ever-changing fourth line has matched the “third” line’s 40 shot attempts and the blueline has fired 141 pucks towards the opponents’ net.
Two games into this ten-game stretch, we noted that the second line wasn’t working. It’s still not.