The Alex Ovechkin-dominated unit might deserve a pass had it been just one bad performance. But it has been a season-long struggle, one made all the more confounding by the fact that it possesses one of the most talented rosters in the NHL and, only 13 months ago, led the NHL at 25.2 percent. Even after struggling for the first five months this season, the power play finished the regular season strong, connecting at a 26.6 percent clip over the final 15 contests.
On Friday, though, it was disjointed, lethargic and, at times, just plain lazy, mustering five shots on goal while surrendering five short-handed shots against.
The power play also committed three giveaways, was whistled for offsides three times. Ovechkin did not record a single shot on net with the man advantage, despite 7 minutes 3 seconds of ice time. Two power plays, in fact, resulted in no shots at all.
But statistics weren’t the most damning indictment of the power play’s effort. That came during Coach Bruce Boudreau’s postgame news conference.
“We weren’t getting to any loose pucks, once there was a shot,” he snapped. “And we weren’t shooting the puck, which is what we were talking about. We were talking about getting the puck to the net, crash the net and simplify the game.”
Asked to expound on his comments after Saturday’s sparsely attended optional practice, Boudreau said of the need to work harder: “Like you guys, I watch TV. And every time you listen to a press conference of a coach who loses, he says: ‘We didn’t win the battles, we didn’t get the loose pucks. If you don’t do that, you’re not going to be successful.’
“I thought they got more than we did last night,” he added. “It’s the only way you get success. The natural instinct is we’re a man up, so it’s a goal-scoring opportunity. The whole thing of it is, if the penalty killing works harder than the power play, that usually nullifies the man advantage.”
The Capitals’ skilled players, no doubt, were outhustled by Tampa Bay’s penalty killers. The Lightning’s penalty kill ranks second in the playoffs with a 97.5 percent effectiveness rate, having extinguished of 39 of 40 short-handed situations dating to its first-round series against Pittsburgh. But the Lightning received plenty of help from its opponent in Game 1.
Washington received the break it so desperately needed with 5:58 to play — or so it seemed. With his team trailing 3-2, Lightning winger Teddy Purcell was sent to the penalty box for hooking defenseman Scott Hannan on a touch-up. Instead, the Capitals put on a clinic on how not to execute a power play.
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