Working overtime hasn’t produced extra payoffs for the Washington Capitals.

They lost a shootout to Carolina on Monday, then suffered another defeat 1:35 into overtime to Vegas on Tuesday.

They’ll look for better results when they visit the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

Washington went scoreless shortly after the first minute of the second period on Tuesday and was outshot 31-21 for the game.

Not only were the Capitals playing the end of a back-to-back — they were shorthanded after Beck Malenstyn suffered an upper-body injury in the opening period while blocking a shot.

“I didn’t like the way we played the third period,” Caps coach Peter Laviolette said. “I understand the circumstances, I understand the situation, but it doesn’t mean that you have to like the way we played the third. I thought that we sat back, we left too many holes, and we gave up a half dozen chances. We didn’t generate much, and so therefore we’re playing defense and we run the risk at pucks coming at our net.”

The Capitals already were missing two of their top players. Defenseman John Carlson was sidelined both games due to a lower-body injury, and T.J. Oshie is out indefinitely with the same injury.

“We’re missing some good, key pieces to this team. But there’s no excuse,” said Marcus Johansson, who scored Washington’s first goal. “We battled hard, and we think we played two good games, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t come out with more than two points.”

The loss of Malenstyn complicated the process on Tuesday.

“It’s tough to lose him in the game because he plays his role well, and when you take that out of the lineup, you’re missing that piece,” Laviolette said.

The Capitals will finish a stretch in which they play five of six games on the road. They’ll begin a four-game homestand on Saturday against Arizona.

Detroit played without several of its best forwards on Monday, but it was the defense that faltered. Buffalo scored four third-period goals en route to an 8-3 rout.

“Absolutely it’s concerning,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “Eight goals. I mean, what are we going to do? There is opportunity here. The season is still young. We’ve showed we can be a good team. We have guys who are trying to fight for a spot in the lineup. We have guys coming back from injury. We need to show that we care more every night.”

The Red Wings have lost three of their past four, giving up five or more goals in the defeats.

“We have five of our top seven forwards out,” first-year coach Derek Lalonde said. “We cannot play a soft and light game. We have no chance. If we buckle down and defend, that’s our chance.”

Lalonde didn’t pull Alex Nedeljkovic as the goals piled up, but it’s likely he’ll go with Ville Husso at goaltender on Thursday. The Red Wings are 3-1-1 in the games Husso has started. He has a .926 save percentage.

The game against the Capitals will begin a stretch in which Detroit plays four of five at home. The Wings are 3-1-1 at home this season.