The Capitals power play will look different against the Senators on Wednesday.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals know that something's got to give on the power play.
That's why on Wednesday, when they take on the Ottawa Senators with rookie Cole Hutson making his NHL debut, the Capitals' special teams are going to have a brand new look, with the rookie quarterbacking one of its units.
"We need to create some accountability inside of our power play," coach Spencer Carbery said. "Someone, a group of five, has to take the bull by the horns and try to run with this. And if it struggles, we'll try the other five to see if that works."
Washington ran power-play drills on Tuesday with two different units. One of the Capitals' combinations consisted of Alex Ovechkin, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Ryan Leonard, Jakob Chychrun and Tom Wilson. Hutson manned the blue line on the other unit, accompanied by Dylan Strome, Ethen Frank, Connor McMichael and Justin Sourdif. That appears to be the plan in place for Wednesday.
Washington has gone 33-for-203 on the power play this season, and its 16.3 percent success rate ranks fourth-worst in the NHL. While it's gained traction at some points, it's otherwise been inconsistent, with entries and shot volume being glaring issues.
The Capitals are well aware of the issues on the man advantage, and note that at points, it's been the difference between two points.
That said, with 14 games to go and D.C. eight points out of a Wild Card spot, the coaching staff revamped the power play and will change things up depending on how it fares against Ottawa.
"We're going to try some different stuff with our power play... we're going to use multiple units and we're going to see what it looks like," Carbery said. "We've struggled all year on the power play, and it's gotten to the point — you may argue like, 'Why don't we try this?'... if one unit goes out there and has a good rep, they'll probably go the next time. If they don't, it'll probably be the other."