Power Play | RMNB

How the Capitals power play is now lining up after multiple injuries to key offensive players

The Washington Capitals were without John Carlson at their morning skate on Tuesday and according to Caps head coach Peter Laviolette, they will be without him for the foreseeable future. Carlson was placed on injured reserve by the team on Tuesday after getting hit in the head by a slap shot last week.

The Carlson news, on top of losing TJ Oshie to another injury four games ago, means the Capitals are having to debut new looks on both of their man-advantage units.

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By Chris Cerullo 3 months ago

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The Washington Capitals are winless to start the season and their power play is a major reason why

The Washington Capitals are off to their worst start in a decade after losing the opening two games of the 2022-23 regular season. A large part of the problem in both games has been their execution on the power play.

The Capitals have not scored once on the man advantage and are 0 for 9 to start the season. They are one of just two teams to have played in more than one game and been unable to convert.

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By Peter Hassett and Chris Cerullo and Ian Oland 5 months ago

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The Caps’ penalty kill is bad, but not this bad

On Friday, Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post (subscribe!) ran a great item about the Washington Capitals’ dragging penalty kill. In that piece, the pull quote from Barry Trotz was that the team “can’t kill anything” when a man down. While that certainly feels true, the resulting numbers for special teams after just ten games might not reflect the actual underlying processes.

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By Peter Hassett 5 years ago

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Evgeny Kuznetsov will play in Marcus Johansson’s old spot on the team’s first power-play unit

Over the last handful of years, the Washington Capitals, guided by assistant coach Blaine Forsythe, have had one of the most lethal power plays in the league.

Utilizing a 1-3-1 formation and Alex Ovechkin’s rocket of a slap shot, the Capitals’ ended last season with the third best power play (23.1%).

Tuesday morning, the Capitals spent a large chunk of practice focusing on special teams and one change was immediately evident. Capitals second-line center Evgeny Kuznetsov will play in Marcus Johansson’s old spot on the team’s first power-play unit.

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By Ian Oland 5 years ago

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Sizing up the Penguins: special teams

You may have read this before. In fact, one year ago, tomorrow, we published a very similar story. Some of the personnel has changed, but not much else. The Washington Capitals still use the 1-3-1 on the power play. The Pittsburgh Penguins still use the umbrella.

Not too much has varied on the PK as well. The Caps use a diamond/wedge, and the Pens use a similar diamond that can rotate into a box. Both rely on pressure. This will be the story of who executes and specifically how.

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By Spenser Smallwood 6 years ago

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Is shot selection a key to the Caps PP slump?

All power plays go through slumps over an 82-game season. When a slump happens at the start of the season, it’s a lot more noticeable because they’re the only numbers we see. This is the case with the Caps power play, who, with two goals on 19 opportunities, is currently 28th in the league.

We know this slump won’t last. There’s too much talent on this team for the slump to last. But just because the numbers are likely to go up and the sample size is small doesn’t mean there aren’t other things going on.

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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Nov 27, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first period at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Photo: Geoff Burke

For the last few years, when you think of Alex Ovechkin, or even the Capitals, you are drawn to their savage power play. Since Adam Oates took over, it has been at the top of the league, ranked first in last season, second in 2013-14, and first in the lockout-shortened 2012-2013 season. Ovechkin is the heavy artillery. Last season, Alex Ovechkin accounted for 42 percent of the Washington Capitals’ power play goals. From 2012-14 seasons, Ovi was responsible for nearly four tenths of the man advantage tallies. Year after year, he fired shot after shot from the same spot. There was little change in the result: a whole bunch of goals.

This year, however, something has been different. Through 20 games this season, Ovechkin had just one power play marker. The numbers tell a pretty clear story: Ovechkin just isn’t getting as many shots attempts on the man advantage.

But Friday night, Ovechkin was peppering Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilvskiy on Washington’s first power play. His first five shots went wide or were saved. His sixth attempt in under two minutes hit the back of the net, set up by a brilliant pass from Jason Chimera. It marked Ovechkin’s third power play goal of the season.

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By Chris Gordon 7 years ago

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Why the Caps Struggled Against the Islanders’ Penalty Kill in Game One

Photo: Rob Carr

The morning after getting pwn’d by the Islanders in game one, the Capitals held an optional skate at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Barry Trotz said that many of the mistakes the Caps made the night before were ones the team had worked on all season long. They knew better, Troz said, so an actual practice on the ice would serve little purpose. That said, I’m sure Trotz reviewed a lot of game tape with the team, hopefully some from the Caps’ two failed power plays.

Islanders head coach Jack Capuano had his penalty killers play in an aggressive box formation against the Caps’ top-ranked power play. Basically, the Isles player nearest the puck would skate out quickly to force a bad decision by the Caps. The Isles penalty kill, ranked 26th in the league during the regular season (76 percent), thrives on chaos created by their team speed. The Caps made long passes, turned the puck over, and were unable to set up Alex Ovechkin more than once in the left circle. On top of that, the Isles had scouted the Caps power play so much, it seemed as if they knew where the puck was going to go before the Caps did.

Watch how discombobulated the Caps were during their first man advantage.

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By Ian Oland 8 years ago

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The Caps Power Play Might Be One of the League’s Best Since 2005

Photo: Alex Brandon

The Caps power play entered Tuesday’s game against Columbus having converted 28 percent of their opportunities so far, good for second in the NHL, behind only Pittsburgh. A quick look at their PP shooting, 16.7 percent, might suggest that their success is unsustainable. While maintaining their current conversion rate over a full season is unlikely, there is reason to believe this power play could still one of the best in recent memory by the time this season is over.

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By Patrick Holden 8 years ago

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