The Washington Capitals are experiencing some deja vu as the team’s power play is struggling at the start of a second consecutive season. After scoring on a man advantage in their first two games, Washington’s power play has gone scoreless in four straight and has only converted twice on 21 total attempts.
Head coach Spencer Carbery’s job is to collaborate with assistants Kirk Muller and Mitch Love to activate a unit that doesn’t have its own identity yet. Love has been added to the power play equation this year after Muller worked through things alone last year.
“Seeing a group that’s trying to create some chemistry right now,” Carbery said Friday. “We’re still sorting through a bunch of entry stuff, positioning of what that looks like, where do we best utilize our plethora of left shots, and then in-zone as well with Dubois and how that fits. It’s certainly a work in progress.”
The Buffalo Sabres are the only team in the NHL to score fewer goals while up a man this season. They scored their first and lone power-play marker of the season in a 5-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
Washington has been on the power play for 29 minutes without scoring a goal in their last four outings. At their worst last year, they had not potted a goal while up a man in over an hour and five minutes.
“We haven’t been generating nearly enough and haven’t been able to enter and possess the puck nearly enough,” Carbery said. “So, a lot of different areas that we’ve got to iron out. I don’t think it’s an overnight thing. We still are undetermined on what it’s going to look like, you know? What’s our bread and butter? What’s the M.O. of this power play group? And, frankly, if the personnel stays the same. Do we need to look at putting some different people out in some different positions and running two units? All options are in play.”
This season, the Capitals’ top unit has featured Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson, and Pierre-Luc Dubois. The four returning players are all primarily playing roles they are familiar with: Ovechkin in the left circle, Carlson at the point, Strome below the faceoff dots, and Wilson in the bumper spot.
Ovechkin is sticking around with the second unit after Carbery stated during the preseason that “the reward” was still there for him to keep deploying his captain for the full two minutes. Washington did not score a single power-play goal without Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leader in power-play goals, on the ice last year. Neither of Ovechkin’s two goals this season have come on the power play.
The Great Eight’s massive presence certainly creates issues for the opposition but also makes the jobs of the Capitals’ coaches more challenging.
“Our power play is as unique as anybody has in the National Hockey League because of Ovi and because of the uniqueness of how teams kill against us,” Carbery said. “It’s not easy to just plug and play because there’s just so many intricacies of a power play where one player, at certain times and against certain teams, is being completely taken away, and what do we do off of that. It’s a significant challenge but something we’ve gone through over the last year to two years since Nick, Osh, and Kuzy are no longer in the lineup.”
There is some light at the end of the tunnel, though. Despite not finding the back of the net, the Capitals have created the 13th-most expected power-play goals in the league (3.3) since October 17th.
After their drought to start last season, the Capitals’ power play eventually woke up and led the league after the All-Star break, converting on 28.9 percent of their chances. It might just be a matter of time and further gelling with new names like Dubois before they explode similarly this year.
Washington has also not needed much production from their power play this season due to their offensive success at all other strengths. Despite the struggles, the team is still averaging 4.33 goals per game, the fourth-best mark in the league coming into Saturday’s games.
