The Washington Capital scored twice on the power play in Friday afternoon’s 5-4 overtime win over the New York Islanders.
Despite losing Alex Ovechkin to injury, the Caps power play is 5-for-15 in his absence. The 33.3% success rate is good enough for sixth in the league in that span.
The second power play goal came at a time when the team needed it most. Momentum had decisively shifted in favor of the visiting Islanders. John Carlson saw a third goal taken off the board that would have given the Caps a lead before two quick Islanders goals that turned what was thought to be a 3-2 Washington lead into a 4-2 lead for New York at the intermission.
The Caps would draw a penalty just seconds into the final frame, and would see Dylan Strome halve the deficit and give the Caps some life.
“I liked our entries a lot,” Washington head coach Spencer Carbery said. “…It’s a heck of a play. There’s no screen there. He just uses a defender. It’s a big time play in a big moment.”
On the goal, Jakob Chychrun, who is on the power play, used his skating to create space and find an open Strome who rifled a shot past Semyon Varlamov.
“I just try to move my feet to create some openings for guys and get pucks through when I can,” Chychrun said about his time on the power play. “It’s nice to have a little success on there.”
Tom Wilson scored the first power play goal of the night on a ti-tac-toe passing play. Dylan Strome fed the puck below the goal line to Connor McMichael from the half wall. McMichael quickly fed Wilson in front of the net who rifled a shot past Varlamov that gave the Caps a 2-1 lead at the time. The goal was reminiscent of goals scored by a trio that consisted of Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov.
“We’re moving the puck really well,” Wilson said. “We’re using all the guys. Chychrun has done a good job up top making plays and getting pucks through to the net.”
For the Caps to maintain their success without their captain, they will need the power play to keep consistently producing and providing needed offense.
“We know how big of a loss Ovi is to that power play unit,” McMichael said. “I think the other four guys on the unit have tried to step up, and bring more energy with the absence of ‘O’. I thought we have done a really good job with that.
