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ARLINGTON, Va. 鈥� The Capitals are off to a sluggish start to the 2022-23 season, dropping two games against a pair of Eastern Conference heavyweights in the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Though they entered the third period of each contest down by only one goal, a lack of offensive punch from both their top six forwards and on the power play prompted head coach Peter Laviolette to make several changes heading into Game 3 on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens at Capital One Arena.
Center Dylan Strome took the ice with the Capitals鈥� top line in morning skate Saturday, bumping Evgeny Kuznetsov down to the second line. T.J. Oshie, who was on the third line to begin the year, swapped places with Aliaksei Protas.
Washington鈥檚 most notable change, however, was Marcus Johansson taking Kuznetsov鈥檚 place on the top power play unit. Strome also moved from the bumper position to the half wall, a position he worked at during training camp. Defenseman Erik Gustafsson, after taking Alex Ovechkin鈥檚 spot on a power play shift with the second unit Wednesday against Boston, reprised that role Saturday as well.
鈥淲e need to generate,鈥� Laviolette said in his press conference Saturday morning. 鈥淚n certain areas, we鈥檙e doing enough to shoot ourselves in the foot and sometimes you cover that by scoring more goals than the opposition and we haven鈥檛 been able to that. So, we鈥檙e trying to fix the things that have been hurting us a little bit, see if we can鈥檛 take down the goals against a little bit, but we need to create more as well 鈥� five-on-five, power play. It鈥檚 early in the season and we鈥檙e just looking for changes as a starting point and if you鈥檝e been there for a little bit and it hasn鈥檛 worked, hasn鈥檛 produced, let鈥檚 take a look at something else and see if that works.鈥�
Not only has the power play gone 0-for-9 thus far between the two units, but the Capitals鈥� top two lines have accounted for just one goal between the first two games. While the offense that the bottom has provided thus far has been a pleasant development, Washington isn鈥檛 going to get very far when Ovechkin and Kuznetsov 鈥� its top two goal scorers last year 鈥� aren鈥檛 finding the back of the net.
To get them going, Laviolette broke up that pair despite them spending most of the 2021-22 campaign skating together. He told both power play units that whichever one scores first will be the group that gets first crack at doing so again the next opportunity.
鈥淭here鈥檚 urgency to win,鈥� Laviolette said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we鈥檙e here to do. We鈥檙e not here to play the game. We鈥檙e here to win the game. So when the first two games don鈥檛 go the way you want, yeah, the urgency cranks up. This team has been a successful team in the regular season for a lot of years, so the standard right now is unacceptable. And I believe you can change it. In one game, you can change what your expectation is for tonight. So there should be some more urgency. We鈥檙e 0-2 right now.鈥�
Strome, who scored a career-high 11 power-play goals for the Chicago Blackhawks last season, agreed with Laviolette鈥檚 assertion that the Capitals needed to generate more scoring opportunities on special teams.
鈥淛ust some more shots, some more chances,鈥� Strome said. 鈥淚 think we had a couple good looks [against Toronto], obviously Ovi went off the crossbar there. That goes in, it鈥檚 a different game. So we鈥檝e had our looks, but I think we got to just get a few more shots, create a little more traffic and I think, like I said, a few inches away from two or three goals the last couple games so it鈥檚 only two games and just got to capitalize.鈥�
Laviolette attributed the Capitals鈥� struggles on defense to 鈥渟ystem breakdowns,鈥� faulting their forwards for turning the puck over and putting their defensemen in bad positions on odd-man rushes. As a result, he didn鈥檛 touch any of the blue line pairings in practice.
鈥淔or me, we鈥檝e got to do a better job of generating more,鈥� Laviolette said. 鈥淭he defensive pairs have been pretty solid. I do think that we need to play better on defense. Our defensemen can play better, so they don鈥檛 get a pass either. There鈥檚 just a little bit more history for them.鈥�
Washington will put its new lines to the test against the Montreal Canadiens (1-1-0). Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
