As they prepared for the hostile atmosphere awaiting them at Bell Centre in Montreal on Monday night, the Capitals took advantage of a rare extra day between playoff games to work on a power play that simply has vanished this postseason.
Heading into Game 6 of a Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series against the Canadiens, the Caps still know they have an extra game with which to play. Lose and there’s always Game 7 at Verizon Center on Wednesday night. It’s a nice cushion. But a team that once held a 3-1 series lead wants no part of a winner-take-all finale. That’s where the power play comes in. What was the NHL’s best unit during the regular season is now 1-for-24 against Montreal in this series and 4-for-41 against it this season.
“We’re aware of all the stats,” said Caps defenseman Mike Green, who had the secondary assist on Washington’s lone power-play goal, an Alex Ovechkin tally during a 6-3 win at Bell Centre in Game 4. “We’re not happy with it. It’s something that we’ve been good at all year. We’re the No. 1 power play. We know how to do it. We just have to really simplify things here and make sure we create some quality shots.”
The Caps actually played solid road hockey in Games 3 and 4 in Montreal — a 5-1 win and that 6-3 victory Wednesday. They scored first in both games and in both neutralized the home crowd — at least for a bit — with choppy play in the first 10 minutes. Lots of whistles for icings or blocked shots that skip into the stands will do that.
“That wasn’t a conscious effort on our part,” forward Mike Knuble said. “But it does help.”
Meanwhile, Caps coach Bruce Boudreau put his players through a 30-minute power-play primer during Sunday morning’s practice. His goal: To get back to basics for a group that led the league at 25.2 percent during the regular season.
“Sometimes you make plays that are not there instead of making a simple five- or 10-foot pass and get the puck away from pressure,” said forward Eric Belanger, who took some repetitions on the power play during practice even though he plays primarily on the penalty kill. “I think it’s about quick support and outworking them. Because if we do that we’ve got the skills to score goals.”
