What Goes Into Fixing The Capitals' Power Play?

The Capitals' power play is the worst in the league at the moment, operating at 7.3 percent.

The Washington Capitals are starting to put the pieces together as they climb up the standings following a lackluster start to the season, but there's still one area that needs major fixing: the power play.

Head coach Spencer Carbery, who helped the Toronto Maple Leafs establish one of the most lethal power-play units in the league over his two years up north, has been unable to ignite Washington's man advantage, nor has new assistant Kirk Muller, who is now directly in charge of the power play and forwards following Blaine Forsythe's 17-year tenure.

The Capitals have gone 0-for-19 on the man advantage over the last seven games, and their PP is officially the least productive in the league, operating at just 7.3 percent despite having all-time power-play goal scorer Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and more in their arsenal.

So, what gives?

"You got a half hour?" Carbery cracked when asked about what's wrong with the power play.

The main issue that he pointed out is the elephant in the room: old habits and familiarity.

Washington's power play, which dominated the league in its earlier days, has been a constant for years now. While that familiarity can be a good thing, it's actually a hindrance as the Capitals look to change things up. From the "slingshot" pass to finding Ovechkin in the office to the bumper play to T.J. Oshie, the plays that worked for so long have been done over and over again to the point where they no longer have that shock factor.

"A lot of it is from built-up habits and things that have been done a certain way for so long, just challenging to break," Carbery said bluntly.

Not only that but losing Nicklas Backstrom on the half-wall is a loss. While his injury had held him back, his hockey IQ still helped tether some good passes and ideas on the fly.

Going back, though, with those old habits also come a lack of movement. Things can get stagnant when Washington finds itself looking for an opportunity. It's been visible on multiple fronts this season, with the puck carrier freezing up, Ovechkin camping out at the point or players waiting for the next move instead of forcing it.

The first solution to this is changing up that personnel, and that's what Carbery tried to do to ignite a spark against the Vegas Golden Knights. Matthew Phillips got moved up to the first unit, and instead of the first unit getting the full two minutes of power-play time, both units got equal time to show what they could do. And while the team went 0-for-3, and also failed to convert on a five-minute chance, there were more looks.

"It's just to try to give us a different look and try to maybe get some personnel away from each other that maybe break some of those old habits and the way things have been done in the past and worked in the past," Carbery said. "That's the purpose for it, see if we can get a different look. it just becomes repetitive, right? It's the same and you'll see it change for a little bit, then it'll go right back to not looking good."

Along with switching up personnel, it might be time to move some of those pieces around, too. The Ovechkin "office" shot still works, but it's become predictable, and given the captain's slow start to the season, putting him in a new spot to mix things up may work well.

After all, he's getting plenty of high-danger chances from right in the paint this season, and having him move around there and get to the front may create a new look and bigger distraction that not only opens the floodgates for him but his teammates as well.

Along with that comes putting an end to standing still. There needs to be motion, and that's something that Carbery and his staff are trying hard to instill in Washington's veterans who've been around the block a few times.

"It's challenging to correct, and that's from a coaching staff standpoint of new messaging, new way of delivering messaging and a new wa of taking that information and applying it to the ice sheet... it's not a lack of effort, it's not a lack of preparation," Carbery added. "The work's being put in, but we need some results. we'll continue to hammer away at it and correct things and build in new habits and things that we just need to do a way better job of."

The Capitals will get a chance at redemption on this side of special teams on Saturday when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. It won't be an easy task, though, as Columbus' penalty kill is the third-best in the league (89.4 percent).

Still, Washington is on an upward trend, and the team believes it's only a matter of time before things start looking up on the power play. And when that day comes, the Capitals are confident that they can be even more of a force.

"Once our power play gets going, I mean, it’s hopefully only going to get easier for us," goaltender Charlie Lindgren said.