Caps looking for answers on penalty kill
The Washington Capitals had just scored a goal a minute earlier when a referee lifted his arm and a whistle sounded, a collective groan echoing through Capital One Arena. Center Evgeny Kuznetsov skated over to the penalty box with slumped shoulders, and soon thereafter the team’s penalty kill would fail once again. Arizona’s Alex Galchenyuk was left all alone in front of the net, and though goaltender Braden Holtby stopped his first shot, the Coyotes center swatted in his own rebound.
The Coyotes celebrated, and the Capitals once again left the ice deflated and still looking for answers when playing shorthanded. Against an Arizona team that was playing its second game in less than 24 hours, Washington hurt itself with three offensive-zone penalties, and an ineffective penalty kill cost the Capitals a second straight game. They allowed one of the league’s worst power plays to score two goals in the 4-1 loss.
The penalty kill has allowed six goals in the past four games.
“It’s not getting it done,” coach Todd Reirden said. “You can continue to look at it different ways. We have some different personnel in that situation, a different way of going about things on the penalty kill, but right nowit’s costing us games. We can’t expect to win when you’re giving uppenalty kill goals like we are at the rate we are right now.”
In a five-game homestand that saw Washington (7-6-3) play stingier at even strength, the shorthanded unit has become the team’s biggest concern. The Capitals have allowed two power-play goals in five of their16 games this season. Meanwhile, the team’s offense has dried up with just four goals in the past three contests. Arizona’s Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves after playing against Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
“Just that little extra seems to be lacking,” defenseman John Carlson said. “Just call it a little blah. We’re just a little blah right now. We’re used to trusting ourselves to make some plays that right nowaren’t happening, so maybeit’s time to pivot back to a little more simpler game and build up that execution point. Just over-passing a little bit when we shouldn’t be, andwhenweneedtomake passes, they’re just a little off.”
After Washington yielded two manadvantage goals in a loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night, the team devoted the second half of Saturday’s practice to working on its Coyotes center Alex Galchenyuk, right, scores against Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby in the second period. penalty kill. Reirden has cautioned that the shorthanded unit is a work in progress as he introduces a new system. Washington’s penalty kill was middle-of-the-pack last season, ranked15th in the league with an 80.3 percent rate of success, and Reirden identified shorthanded play as an area he could potentially improve along with new assistant coach Scott Arniel. The unit is missing injured defenseman Brooks Orpik and suspended winger Tom Wilson, and some new personnel has been introduced, but it’s nowamong the league’s bottom five.
After 15 minutes of slow-moving hockey, the Capitals had an extended shift in the Coyotes’ zone for the first time, but defenseman Matt Niskanen was whistled for an offensive-zone tripping penalty, Washington’s second infraction of the frame. The Coyotes entered the game with a league-worst seven power-play goals to start the season, but they were able to take advantage with four seconds left on Niskanen’s penalty.
Reirden wants to be more aggressive onthepenalty kill, but T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom and Carlson all sped down the ice for ashorthandedchance, leaving just Dmitry Orlov back. Kuemper saved Carlson’s shot, and then the Coyotes had an odd-man rush barreling back toward Holtby. Vinnie Hinostroza finished off a Tuesday, 8 p.m. TV: NBCSWA tic-tac-toe passing play to lift Arizona to a lead16:56 into the game.
“It’s just a bad read by us,” Backstrom said. “Too many guys attacking there instead of maybe playing it out and waiting for it to be five-on-five. We saw an opportunity. It’s easy to say that after, too. But, yeah, there’s absolutely an area that we can be better at.”
The Coyotes made it a two-goal lead 11:57 into the second period, when the Capitals’ fourth line overpassed on an odd-man rush, leading a turnover. Arizona’s Richard Panik had a partial breakaway at Holtby and beat him glove side.
“The shot total was up from us tonight, a little bit higher than we’ve been all year, and I still think there was a number of shots we passed up,” Reirden said.
Lookingfor ascoring spark before the game, Reirden reunited a proven trio in captain Alex Ovechkin, Backstrom and Oshie. Those three made for one of the best lines in hockey more than a year ago, but they haven’t played a full game side by side since the 2016-17 season. Reirden had seemingly been building to the comeback; several times this season he’s had the trio on the ice together for the last shift in the period, hopeful the old chemistry could provide a boost.
Derek Stepan then sealed it in the third period with a goal on an empty net when Holtby was pulled for the extra attacker late.