Not long after being hired to coach the Washington Capitals, Barry Trotz began analyzing his new team’s offense. He was aware that Alex Ovechkin had helped the power play become one of the best in the NHL for years, but if the team was going to thrive beyond the whim of a fortuitous whistle, he felt it needed to be more assertive at even strength.
That developed over the course of last season, when Washington, still with the league’s most efficient power play, put together a more balanced offensive game. After scoring just 67.6 percent of their goals at even strength in 2013-14, the final year under Adam Oates, the Capitals upped their five-on-five production to 73 percent last season — still in the bottom five, but a marked improvement.
Through seven games this season, that number hasn’t changed much; the Capitals have scored 21 of their 29 goals at even strength, a 72.4 percent clip. As they return from a three-game swing across western Canada, though, what they’ve found is that they can score without the benefit of a power play. They scored 16 goals on that road trip, converting just two of their nine chances with the man advantage.
That also means Washington (6-1), after victories over the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers, has a five-game winning streak for the first time since April 2013. On Monday, when players returned after two days off, the Capitals had the highest-scoring offense in the league at 4.14 goals per game.
“I thought that for us to be in the upper echelon of the National Hockey League, you want to be in the top-10 five-on-five in the league and last year we weren’t,” Trotz said on Monday. “I thought [entering this season] that we could still make a big jump there. The top teams in the league five-on-five score their goals at a pretty good pace, and then if we could do that with our power play, then I think we could really be dangerous.”
The Capitals haven’t been as productive on offense since 2009-10, when they scored four or more goals 46 times and powered through the regular season averaging 3.88 goals a game. No team has scored at Washington’s current rate since the Pittsburgh Penguins averaged 4.41 goals in 1995-96, when Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis surpassed 100 points and Petr Nedved finished with 99.
Those teams also led the league in power play scoring, underlining the need to be able to capitalize on special teams. Upon leaving for the road trip, Washington was 5-for-13 on the power play; it didn’t break through despite the advantage until a 7-4 victory over the Oilers on Friday, when Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored.
“I think you have to be successful on the power play — and it’s not just the power play, [but the penalty kill] as well,” Backstrom said. “Special teams are just so important. You’ve got to take care of those opportunities when you get them. That’s something that we’ve been really good at for the last couple of years, and we want to keep getting better, too. Obviously, teams are going to kill a little different against us, so it’s all about coming up with new ideas, too.”
What has aided the Capitals this season, especially on the road trip, has been an emphasis on puck possession and shot selection. Too often, during the four-game homestand, the Capitals were careless in transition. The opener against the New Jersey Devils, a 5-3 victory, and the next game, a 5-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks, underscored those deficiencies.
The aim, then, has been to minimize mistakes at center ice and work opponents over in the offensive zone. The Capitals’ 8.1 even-strength shooting percentage was tied for ninth in the league entering Monday, and their 14.4 shot attempts per goal ranked second only to the Arizona Coyotes.
“I think we started doing the simple things right and the offense just sort of followed after,” right wing T.J. Oshie said, citing turnovers and breakouts. “I think because of that, as a result, some of the skill on this team took over and was able to capitalize.”
The successful start could also bode well for the spring. Last season, as the Capitals fought to qualify for the playoffs, there were ruminations over the way the team performed over the first month of the season. It lost eight of its first 12 games and didn’t enter the postseason picture until late November, and even a few victories during that early stretch would have provided a larger cushion.
“The key is to stay ahead of everybody,” Trotz said, acknowledging that beginning Wednesday, with a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Capitals will play their next eight games against Eastern Conference opponents.
“We’ve got to make sure any good work that we get, that goes in the bank, and now we’ve just got to earn some more. We’ve got to earn some more points. There’s no patting on the back. It’s game seven.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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