Overtime penalty kill preserves Capitals’ eventual victory over Red Wings

Nate Schmidt knew the Washington Capitals were in for a challenge.

The three-on-three overtime format installed by the NHL prior to the season has already tested teams in any number of ways — including the Capitals, who had lost to the Winnipeg Jets in the extra period in their previous game. Taking a penalty in overtime, as the Capitals did on Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings, put them in even more of a predicament.

“Four-on-three is just a whole other animal,” Schmidt said. “It’s a whole different animal. That’s the biggest part about it.”

Schmidt and the Capitals successfully killed off that penalty, their first in overtime this season, allowing them to eventually defeat the Red Wings, 3-2, in a shootout.

Only once this season had the Capitals faced a four-on-three situation — a successful kill for 1:07 in the second period of a 5-3 victory over the Jets on Nov. 25 — and it was their first opportunity to try to preserve a game when down to three skaters.

The league chose to adopt the three-on-three format to reduce the number of games ending in a shootout. Teams assessed a penalty during the extra five minutes don’t lose a player, but their opponent adds one. That led to the Red Wings’ four-on-three advantage 2:35 into overtime, when Alex Ovechkin was whistled for hooking on Dylan Larkin.

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The Capitals sent center Jay Beagle and defensemen Karl Alzner and Matt Niskanen onto the ice for the first 56 seconds before Schmidt, defenseman John Carlson and left wing Brooks Laich took the next shift. The two units allowed just two shots on goal — a wrister from 15 feet by Mike Green and a slapper from the top of the left circle by Brad Richards as the power play was about to expire, both of which were turned aside by Braden Holtby.

“They really didn’t get a chance,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “They had one really little look that Holts was real solid on. I thought we did a real good job. Kudos to the guys who were out there. You know you’re going to have to sacrifice. You know you’re going to have block shots, all those things. They got it done, so it was really good.”

Assistant coach Lane Lambert, who oversees the penalty kill units, offers refreshers on the various situations — five-on-four, four-on-three, five-on-three — prior to every game. If players don’t address them during the morning skate, they’ll be charged with knowing their responsibilities either through film review or by simply diagramming plays on a whiteboard.

For the Capitals, the four-on-three situation in overtime isn’t any different than a four-on-three during regulation — except that a mistake doesn’t end the advantage, it ends the game. One of the more difficult hurdles, though, can be mentally, as the shift in strategy for a game played three-on-three is vastly different from one played when a team suddenly finds itself shorthanded.

“It always comes out at what turns out to be a huge moment in the game, those types of kills, because there’s so much ice out there,” Niskanen said.

For that reason, Schmidt said, playing down a man four-on-three is much more difficult than playing down five-on-three. With two extra men on the ice, teams are more apt to set up their offense in the attacking zone, swing the puck around the perimeter and look for the opening. At four-on-three, it’s more open.

“Now you’re getting more room for their best players to operate,” Schmidt said. “Five-on-three, you can tee up some one-timers and stuff like that, but you don’t really want to do that on four-on-three. You want more of a tic-tac-toe play.”

That’s what helped the Capitals kill off the Red Wings’ advantage. Detroit spent the majority of those two minutes looking for the crack in Washington’s defense, which didn’t present one. Richards’ attempt occurred shortly after his team’s line change; with 25 seconds remaining in their power play, Gustav Nyquist took the puck away from his bench and left a drop pass for Tomas Tatar, who faked a shot before passing across the ice to Richards.

That shot went off Holtby’s right pad and ricocheted high off the glass above the end boards. The Red Wings recovered the puck, but didn’t manage another decent chance until the advantage was over 11 seconds later.

Washington finished the final 18.2 seconds of overtime on the power play — coincidentally, also their first in the extra period this season — when Schmidt was slashed by Nyquist. After two shootout goals and two saves by Holtby, the Capitals took the victory.

“It gets to that point where it’s just one bounce this way or one bounce that way,” Schmidt said. “You look at it, they had a couple really good plays that we had guys make good blocks on, and Holts makes a couple good saves. … That’s a huge play for us. Huge.”