The Capitals' power play ended a 0-for-34 drought in Thursday's win, and here's how.
Going into Thursday's game against the Anaheim Ducks, the Washington Capitals knew that it was only a matter of time before they had to bust out. The power play had been getting good looks, yet it remained without a goal for 13 straight games and was 0-for-34 since Oct. 27.
Needing a power-play goal more than ever before hitting December, Washington finally cashed in — not once, but twice — in a 5-4 win over the Ducks to end a lengthy drought.
"Huge," Anthony Mantha said postgame. "I don't know if you guys saw all the smiles on the ice when it happened, but it was kind of like, 'Finally,' you know? That's the feeling."
Spencer Carbery agreed, following that up with a simple statement.
"That was a large monkey off our back," Carbery explained.
Tom Wilson, who scored both power-play goals en route to his first career hat trick in front, explained just how the team addressed its woes.
"We made some changes," Wilson said. "It's new personnel out there, and we're playing with confidence and we've changed up the looks a little bit."
Mantha is one of those pieces now out there on the first unit, and the second unit is also getting more time as well. The team also got away from old habits against the Ducks, and got pucks on net and chased hard rather than back-and-forth passing and waiting for a lane.
Both of Wilson's goals came in the crease, as he followed up on plays that Alex Ovechkin made from his "office." The first was a rebound off of an initial block on an Ovechkin one-timer, and his second PPG was off his own rebound after Ovechkin passed the puck to the crease.
For Carbery, that was a huge part of the game plan and one that Washington emphasized amid the team's woes.
"That's kind of the way that it works, it ricochets around and Willy picks that up. The second one was a real nice play and again finding a way at that net front," Carbery explained. "We've talked a lot about how to score, where you're gonna score power-play goals, and those are two prime examples."
It was a relief for Wilson, who'd had a similar opportunity earlier in the week but couldn't convert, but he also gave his captain credit for getting pucks to the high-danger areas.
"O's such a shooting threat, so if you get to the net, you're gonna get looks and odds are you're gonna find a way to bang it in," he said, adding, "We needed to get it done."
The 29-year-old also said that the power play, which had fallen to dead-last in the league at 5.6 percent before Thursday's breakout, had a different mindset that helped pave the way to break out for a goal.
"I think the hunger of getting the pucks, retrieving them, getting pucks to the net has just been great for us the last handful of games," Wilson added. "We've had good looks the last two games, and we just gotta keep that going, keep building with our confidence and find a way to change games and build on that momentum."
Carbery agreed, and also said that entries played a key role, while crediting Mantha for his chip-and-chase entry that set up Wilson's hat trick goal.
Washington will look to keep it going as it seeks its third straight win on Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights, the third game of a five-game road swing.