Courtesy: Nick Wass Associated Press
WASHINGTON — After the 5-1 drubbing handed down by the Colorado Avalanche Saturday night, the Washington Capitals have to step back and refocus on the long season ahead.
It is tough not to get frustrated when expectations are always high for the boys in D.C. After all, they pretty much penciled their names on the Southeast Division title each and every season since 2007-08. However, the roster didn’t see too much change during the offseason and you have to wonder if team’s are starting to catch on to what head coach Adam Oates and his staff are trying to execute.
So far, the two biggest noticeable issues have been the defensive play and keeping pace with the opponent.
The Capitals are a team that feeds off of high-energy situations like a power play or penalty kill. Look at how successful they’ve been thus far on the power play this season. They find themselves tied for 3rd in the NHL on the man-up situations with a 31.6% conversion rate. Despite the gaudy numbers on the power play, it still seems as if the Capitals rely too much on those types of special teams plays and can’t match the intensity on even-strength opportunities.
Whenever the Capitals can pepper the opposing goaltender and send two forecheckers in the opposing zone with success and regularity, they are going to win. This aggressive nature allows for the Capitals to create more offensive chances and therefore wreaking havoc on opposing defenses, drawing more penalties. However, Washington has been prevented from doing such situations more often than not due to the fact that offensively, backchecking efforts need to improve collectively and all three defensive pairings still need work.
One of the primary problems still evident is outside of Green and Carlson, the Capitals have yet to establish any sort of consistency keeping opposing forwards outside of the slot. Lots of traffic in front of the net and in Washington’s defensive zone has provided tough sledding for goalie Braden Holtby. Even Green and Carlson haven’t been able to elevate their defensive efforts enough as they still tend to pinch up more often than not on the offensive end, opening up opportunities for opponents to expose their average transitional defensive efforts.
If the Capitals want to avoid starting 1-5-0 by losing to the Edmonton Oilers Monday night, they will have to remember who they are offensively: a team that feeds off of high-intensity plays by creating opportunities all over the ice and a team that has the athleticism to get back and play transition defense… it’s just a matter of will.
