WASHINGTON, DC -- Hours before the Washington Capitals' first game of the season, head coach Spencer Carbery put the heat on his team's power play, which had struggled in recent seasons after years as one of the best in the league.
"I think we've really got to put some work in," he said. "We feel like we've got a good first unit right now that should be a good power play in the National Hockey League, but we also have some guys that are on our second unit that would love an opportunity to be on the first unit...We have to adapt and evolve.
"It's been a work in progress over the last two years. We're going to continue to do that. And this year we'll bring a little bit of change, and we need some accountability there as well."
Carbery's team had ample opportunity to live up to those expectations against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night. Instead, Washington went 0-for-5 on the man advantage, failing to score even during 55 seconds of five-on-three. The Capitals attributed some of that to growing pains as they adjust to new systems, but that didn't make the lack of scoring any easier to swallow.
"We were trying some new looks. At the end of the day, we've just got to be better," Tom Wilson said postgame. "I think the five, ten man group, we're out there for a reason. We have to have a positive impact on the game at the end of the day. It's as simple as that. So not good enough tonight. Now we have some film to look at, and we'll coach it up and hopefully turn it around quick and get some momentum."
Washington's play on the man advantage has been spotty throughout Carbery's tenure, especially after the departures of Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie. The Capitals ranked 14th in the league last season with a power play percentage of 23.5 and went through a 10-game, 25-day drought in March -- itself an improvement from a 33-day drought in 2023-24.
While the power play never managed to hit the back of the net on Wednesday, the Caps still saw some signs of progress in their performance. The game offered Carbery some opportunities to experiment, including his choice to occasionally run a second unit without Alex Ovechkin, normally a fixture throughout a two-minute penalty. And Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman proved a powerful opposing force, cutting off what could have been promising opportunities.
The Capitals recorded 11 shots in 9:06 of power play time, close to a third of their 36-shot total, though Natural Stat Trick registered only two high-danger chances in that span.
Jakob Chychrun saw the power play's main flaw as a lack of finishing power rather than a failure to generate chances, at least on his second unit.
"I thought our unit had some really good looks, actually," Chychrun said. "I thought we were getting in on the entries pretty well, setting up and getting looks, getting shots, making plays. So yeah, I don’t know,(we’ve) just got to find a way to put one in the net at the end of the day."
Head coach Spencer Carbery, too, saw some positives on the man advantage, but he lamented the missed opportunity the team had to turn the tides of the night -- opponents rarely accumulate the slew of penalties Boston racked up, and any one of those chances could have changed the game's result.
And though he wasn't all doom and gloom, Carbery also saw plenty of flaws in the Caps' process, especially their play with the puck.
"I thought there were some decent looks," Carbery said. "I mean, obviously we need our power play to capitalize there. We need something from our power play in that game, especially when you get that many early in the game, that you need to assert yourself in those moments and grab a lead, and we didn't. And so when you don't do that, you leave the game to chance. They get a power play goal on a set play, on an entry. It plays a huge part in the outcome in the game."
"As far as the process, it was just okay. I think the way that I saw it, I saw a lot of guys fighting the puck tonight. Just sloppy, on back hands, pucks rolling, bobbling, passes off. So those are moments right there where you have some time and space; you're on the power play. Whether it's a five-on-three; we win the draw. We try to make a play into Tom Wilson. It goes off someone's skate; stick. It's down the ice. Those are the plays that we've got to be able to make; especially when you need your power play to be the difference."
Three weeks of training camp and a single regular-season game wasn't enough to solve the Capitals' power-play woes, it appears. But that doesn't mean players will let frustration build up instead of looking for a solution.
"I think you've got to continue doing what you're doing when you're getting those looks," Chychrun said."I don't think you should ever be frustrated when you're generating chances. Continue to do that; they're going to go in eventually.And like I said;that goalie played really well tonight.So I think if we found one;found a way to bear down on one of those earlier;we could have maybe opened the floodgates a bit.But we just didn't get that until a little too late."