Boudreau Pleads for Power-Play Progress

GLENDALE, Ariz., Oct. 22 -- One day after watching his team's power play struggle to get organized, much less score a goal in Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames, Washington Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau dedicated about half of Wednesday's practice at Jobing.com Arena to sorting out the unit's deficiencies.

Several times, Boudreau involved himself in the drills. At one point, he stopped practice, skated to the top of the crease and positioned himself inches in front of goaltender José Theodore. "Like this," he said. "Not like this," he added, moving off to the side and waving his stick. Another time, Boudreau barked: "Don't worry about a bad pass. Go get the puck."

Boudreau had every reason to be irritated. The Capitals have one of the NHL's most talented corps of forwards, but the power play ranks 16th with an effectiveness rate of 15.6 percent (5 for 32). It went 0 for 5 against the Flames, including mustering only three shots during a rare seven-minute power play in the first period.

"Sometimes they need a little personal involvement" from the coach, Boudreau said. "Sometimes you get complacent. In the end, no matter what systems you use, it comes down to hard work and simplifying things, shooting the puck and getting ugly goals. You can't always score the pretty goals."

Boudreau wasn't the only one dishing out instructions and encouragement: Veteran Sergei Fedorov could often be seen tutoring some of the Capitals' younger players, such as Mike Green, about proper positioning and technique. Some of the conversations continued after practice in the dressing room, where Green and Michael Nylander talked strategy for several minutes.

Whether any of it will produce results won't be known until sometime late Thursday night after the Capitals (3-2-1) face the Phoenix Coyotes (2-3-0). Theodore is expected to start for the visitors while backup goalie Mikael Tellqvist is expected to get his first start of the season for Phoenix in place of Ilya Bryzgalov.

Boudreau said he held off of making any drastic changes to the power play in the way of strategy or personnel, saying, "I've given them crap, now I want them to show me they're going to do better."

Brooks Laich said the players took Boudreau's message to heart.

"You're going to see more hustle," Laich said. "We're going to move our legs and not reach as much. We're going to surround the puck. If they have two guys on it, we're going to have three. If they have three, we're going to have four."

A Goal to Remember

Although Alex Ovechkin is in the midst of a modest scoring drought -- the most valuable player has tallied in only one of the Capitals' six games this season -- he managed a big smile when asked about returning to this building for the first time since "The Goal."

Ovechkin was already well on his way to winning rookie of the year honors in 2005-06, but his popularity soared after scoring, almost impossibly, while twisting and sliding on his back during a win over the Coyotes in January of that season.

"It's always a good memory," he said. "It's always fun to come back and remember all the fans and what everybody say about this goal. But it was a long time ago."

After a brief pause, he smiled and cracked, "I just want to do the same thing tomorrow."

Erskine's Status in Doubt

Defenseman John Erskine, who suffered a leg injury late in Tuesday's game, practiced for only 30 minutes on Wednesday, leaving his status for the Coyotes game unclear. If he is unable to play, Boudreau said Fedorov will play on defense.

Both Tom Poti (groin muscle strain) and Viktor Kozlov (sprained left knee) skated on their own. Neither, however, will play Thursday.