The Capitals made some much-needed tweaks to the power play and hope it's enough to spark change.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — Spencer Carbery's patience for the Washington Capitals power play had been running thin, and going 0-for-6 in a 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday was the final straw.
On Sunday, Carbery made significant changes to the man advantage, shaking up both units in an attempt to get a new look. The biggest shake up saw John Carlson move to the second unit, while Jakob Chychrun ran the top power play.
"It gets to a certain point where, as a coach, I need to make a decision of what makes sense for our hockey team," Carbery said. "When it repeatedly isn't going well, then we need to make adjustments and find ways to improve it. One of the ways you can do that is by changing the personnel."
Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson both took maintenance days and did not skate, so Justin Sourdif and Hendrix Lapierre were placeholders on both units. Sonny Milano alternated with Alex Ovechkin in his usual office.
The top unit, run by Chychrun, had a supporting cast of Ovechkin, Sourdif (expected placeholder for Tom Wilson), Ryan Leonard and Dylan Strome. The second unit, led by Carlson, consisted of him, Milano, Ethen Frank, Anthony Beauvillier and Lapierre (expected placeholder for Connor McMichael).
Wilson had mentioned after Saturday's loss that the Capitals' top unit had gotten "a little too predictable," and this gives the team a much-needed new look and the chance to try and find some chemistry, which has been absent so far.
“You can’t pass on the problem. All of us seem to be kind of just throwing it around right now… it’s costing us games," Wilson said. "It’s not good enough.”
Moving Carlson down to the second unit was a significant move for the team, but one that gives Carbery an opportunity to have two offensive defensemen get the chance to operate from point position. Chychrun had been playing the role of a forward on the first unit these last few games, and allowing him to operate from the point, where he's most comfortable, is something Carbery hopes leads to more success.
"Just getting both those guys running their own unit, having two balanced units that we can go to (is good), and then also, it's about the accountability," Carbery said, saying that the order of deployment for both units could change depending on how things play out on a game-by-game basis.
Meanwhile, Ovechkin's usage will continue to be on a situational basis as Carbery navigates his ice time.
Washington will get to try first units on Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and when it comes down to it, the biggest thing Carbery wants to see, besides executing, is more speed.
"There's no doubt skating is one of our Achilles heels as a team. It shows up on the power play," Carbery said. "It's not the end of the world, but to incorporate guys that can add the skating, the speed, the pace off the entry and then also for puck recoveries of getting oout of tight spaces, an ability to be able to skate, cut back, accelerate away from defenders, is definitely something that helps."