Why? Well, there isn't a single factor to which you could point and say, "there, that's the reason." But an important consideration in the Caps' woes appears in James Mirtle's blog entry on power players. See if you can find it...
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
It wasn't supposed to be like this...
This morning, the Washington Capitals are 23rd in the league on the power play (14.6 percent). Since going 2-for-5 with the man advantage in their 7-1 win at Toronto on October 29th (and isn't that starting to look like this year's high-water mark?), they are 4-for-33 (12.1 percent).
Why? Well, there isn't a single factor to which you could point and say, "there, that's the reason." But an important consideration in the Caps' woes appears in James Mirtle's blog entry on power players. See if you can find it...
Why? Well, there isn't a single factor to which you could point and say, "there, that's the reason." But an important consideration in the Caps' woes appears in James Mirtle's blog entry on power players. See if you can find it...
I told you Dainus Zubrus was the key to our Power Play....
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine Zubrus and Poti on the same power play? They might not score against air.
ReplyDeleteOK, that's not fair, but the issue here isn't that Poti is a bad power play performer...he's a symptom, not a cause. I suspect the numbers are skewed precisely because he does spend so much time on the power play, and the club -- the whole first and second units -- stink on toast right now.
Actually, the problem with the Power Play is twofold from where I sit. One is a carryover problem from last year which is we still can't get set up in the offensive zone to save our life. Once the puck gets cleared the penalty is pretty much killed because unless A.O. or Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green takes it upon themselves to conduct an end-to-end rush all by themselves, the Power Play can't gain the offensive zone under control and get itself set up.
ReplyDeleteBut on the occasions when they do get established in the offensive zone (usually after winning an offensive zone draw), the Power Play has become outragously one-dimensional. A.O. has been placed on the point because of his shot and the Power Play right now consists of trying to feed A.O. for a one-timer and hope it goes in. If it doesn't, hopefully somebody will be in front of the net to grab the rebound. However, since the Vancouver game, not a single Penalty Killing unit has allowed A.O. to consistently get his shot off from the point. So the Caps either ring up another blocked or missed shot (if the pass to A.O. doesn't get deflected or picked off).
At least with Semin on the half-wall, Nylander has two options to pass to, but the Penalty Kill can take away all of his passing options because they know he doesn't like to shoot the puck. When the second unit gets out there, it's "force feed A.O. the puck" because there isn't anybody else on the team with a shot that they trust right now.