Capitals Emphasize Need For 'Smarter' Play, Better Puck Management Amid Early Growing Pains To Start Season

ARLINGTON, V.A. — Looking back at Sunday's loss to the Seattle Kraken and some of the early growing pains for this Washington Capitals team, a handful of the mistakes they're making stem from good intentions.

Washington's players want to make the right play out there, but at times, it's led to the team overthinking different plays, leading to missed chances, just-off passes and poor puck management, which result in turnovers and ultimately, goals against.

"Everyone means well and wants to do the right thing," Dylan Strome explained, adding, "I honestly think it's just like the guys wanting to help the team and it ends up hurting the team. We're trying to make plays in order to score. No one is going out there wanting to turn the puck over and lose, guys are trying to make the right plays."

Coach Spencer Carbery agreed, stressing after Sunday's loss that the Capitals needed to clean up different aspects of their 200-foot play in order to avoid lapses in momentum throughout the course of the game.

"You just have to do the necessary things to win the hockey game, however that looks like... We’ll get it fixed but it’s going to take some time. Guys have to learn, we need to become a more intelligent team," Carbery said. "You’ve seen it through the first (few) games. We make some crazy decisions at bad times. I know I feel it on the bench and everyone in the building is like, ‘What is that?’ You just can’t do that at this level if you want to be a good team."

The first part of fixing that stems from better puck management and fine-tuning the details and smaller aspects of the game at both ends.

"It starts with the puck and making the right decisions," Boone Jenner said. "It's cliche, but bearing down and getting pucks out and putting it in good spots down behind (the opposition)... just more consistency."

The second part is the mental side of it.

When the Capitals have been met with adversity this season, Carbery has noted that players layers will try to take matters into their own hands, leading to forced plays that ultimately, do more harm than good.

"When you're not playing well and you're kind of fighting it a little bit, you have a tendency in your mind that, 'When (I) get the puck, I gotta make something happen with this,' and that's a bad, bad headspace to be in when you're playing in the NHL," Carbery explained. "If you feel like (you) have to make something happen, usually you don't, and usually, it hurts you going back the other way. It puts your team in a vulnerable spot."

For Strome, he's seen that happen in the offensive zone, citing misplays at the blue line under pressure, forced plays up through the middle and lost 1-on-1 battles, among other things.

Ultimately, the Capitals believe it's an easy fix, and are confident that they'll get it sorted out sooner rather than later. That said, they just need to trust their instincts and their game, and spend more time simplifying, getting used to the new-look roster and learning to play together as a team for a full 60 minutes.

"Just got to play a little bit smarter, and eventually, the results will take care of itself," Strome explained. "Just beginning of the season, learning how to play as a team. Lots of new faces, new guys and kind of playing a little bit in a different style than we played last year... we're trying to play a little bit simpler, a little bit smarter, a little bit safer, and I feel like we're just over-complicating at the wrong times."