Caps aim to end power-play drought
It hasn’t cost them in standings — yet
WASHINGTON — The Capitals are winners of three in a row and sitting pretty atop the NHL, so not much seems to be going wrong for Washington. They do however have one glaring problem — power-play goals — and it is something coach Barry Trotz hopes to fix sooner rather than later.
Washington is 0 for their last 17 and haven’t scored a powerplay goal since Jan. 19 after consistently being the league’s top power-play team the past several seasons.
The five-game drought hasn’t cost them in the standings, but a similar stretch haunted them in last year’s playoffs, so it’s worth significant attention in the coming days and weeks.
“Sometimes we can be very stubborn and say, ‘Our power play will work against everybody,’ but we do make lots of adjustments,” Trotz said after the Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. “If there’s a trend, then we better fix it before the playoffs because to me if we don’t fix it before the playoffs, you’re almost in a situation where it’s too late.”
The Capitals went 0 for 13 in Games 2 through 7 of their second-round playoff series against the New York Rangers last spring.
A lack of power-play goals wasn’t the only reason for blowing a 3-1 series lead, and this five-game drought isn’t cause for alarm just yet. The Capitals still (barely) have the league’s top unit with a 24.2 percent success rate, but more importantly they have a fourpoint lead over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Presidents’ Trophy race and have played five fewer games.
But as Washington goes on the road to face the Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars this week, getting the power play back on track is a major focus. It’s not necessarily about getting rid of the goose egg in the goal column as much as fixing what’s contributing to the problem.
“We believe as long as we are getting zone time, we’re getting shots, we have some of the key elements of our power play, that results are going to come,” power-play point man Matt Niskanen said. “Some of those areas have been lacking lately, so that’s what we’ll try to fix. I don’t think you get too caught up in the results. You focus on the process and things like your breakout, your zone entries, your recoveries, net presence, execution — all those things. If we concentrate on those things, the results will come.”
Monday games
PENGUINS 6, DUCKS 2: In Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby scored on a pair of breakaways to extend his goal streak to a career-best seven games and added two assists to help Pittsburgh to a win over Anaheim.
Crosby beat John Gibson between the legs to give the Penguins a three-goal cushion in the second period and
ripped one by Gibson’s glove early in the third while Pittsburgh emphatically ended Anaheim’s six-game winning streak.
Chris Kunitz, Conor Sheary, Carl Hagelin and Olli Maatta also scored for the Penguins, who have won six of seven. Crosby, mired in a massive slump early in the year, now has 53 points in 51 games.
RED WINGS 3, PANTHERS 0: In Detroit, Pavel Datsyuk scored twice in a 1:08 span midway through the third after Tomas Tatar broke a scoreless tie earlier in the period and Petr Mrazek made 23 saves for Detroit in a win over Florida.
Mrazek has a career-high four shutouts this season.
RANGERS 2, DEVILS 1: In New York, Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves and New York posted its first three-game winning streak since November with a victory over New Jersey.
Kevin Klein, who broke a thumb last week, scored for the first time in 28 games and the streaking J.T. Miller scored for the ninth time in 10 games while the Rangers beat the Devils for the first time in three games this season.
SENATORS 5, LIGHTNING 1: In Ottawa, Ontario, Mark Stone had two goals and an assist and Ottawa beat Tampa Bay.
Stone has five goals and three assists in his past four games. He went eight straight without a point prior to this stretch.