Courtesy: Jim Cowsert USA TODAY Sports
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Washington Capitals find themselves at 1-2-0 in their first three games of the NHL season, but it is certain that their power play unit is one of, if not, the best in the game today.
Currently, the boys in red find themselves converting 6/12 power play opportunities — good for a 50% conversion rate. Captain Alexander Ovechkin leads all skaters with three of those special teams tallies — Mikhail Gabrovski (2) and Nicklas Backstorm (1) have the other half of the goals. The GR8 also has two assists on the power play (five total points on the power play).
When your power play is lead by your best overall player in Ovechkin, you know your team is going places. It is really hard to explain why this team struggles as it does in 5-on-5 situations in comparison to how dominant they are on the man-up attack. The 28-year-old wants the puck on his stick and commands this unit like no other. We all know that Ovechkin is a guy who will take shots and make blind passes from virtually anywhere because he works with a high-risk, high-reward mentality.
Maybe that’s why the even-strength situations are a struggle at times?
I’m not quite sure yet, but one thing is for sure: Washington has lived and died by the power play thus far and that is a dangerous place to be.
While the conversion rate is extremely high now, that number will deteriorate to somewhere in the mid to upper 20’s. It may seem like the Capitals are virtually a lock to net a goal in power play situations, but what if they are playing extremely disciplined hockey teams?
Penalties happen, but not as frequent as Washington would like sometimes. But, they can’t control that. They can only control who they are and how they are performing on the ice.
When the Capitals take to the ice with their power play unit, they have the perfect setup… at least in my eyes.
Ovechkin and defenseman Mike Green at the point as the possess the hardest shots toward the net. Ovechkin is the most accurate shooter and Green is great at throwing pucks into traffic for deflections; he is also prone to a few rink ad shots here and there. Backstrom stations himself on one of the boards setting up passes. Grabovski virtually does the same, but crashes the net and takes more shots. Finally, forward Troy Brouwer grinds out all of the hard work in front of the net and wreaks havoc for penalty killers and netminders.
The formula works… it’s just a matter of getting enough opportunities. A great power play is equivalent to a team that lives and dies by the three-pointer in basketball. It’s great if you can convert… it’s just a matter of having the right amount of chances and if those chances are converted every night.
Writer’s Note: Congratulations to Washington Capitals Captain Alexander Ovechkin on being named the NHL’s First Star of the first week of the season — 4 goals (3PPG), 2 assists.
