How Can Caps Figure Out Scoring Issues? I BMitch & Finlay

WJFK-FM / 106.7 The Fan

Joe Beninati discusses the Capitals struggles against the Hurricanes with JP.

Transcript

00:00How do they get the power play going again?

00:03Do you think Ovi getting one on the five-on-three

00:05might give them a little boost or something?

00:09You're not going to get too many five-on-threes.

00:12This season, JP, alone, the Caps are six for 11 when they go five-on-three,

00:18and Ovechkin has four of those six two-man advantage goals.

00:22You can't rely upon that.

00:24Your five-on-four power play has to improve,

00:26and it starts simply enough with what sounds like,

00:29oh, that's easy, just get the puck in the zone.

00:32Zone entries are difficult against Carolina.

00:35Zone entries, when the Caps are off on the power play,

00:38when they're sputtering, when they're not doing well,

00:41more often than not, the problem begins from the offensive side of the red line

00:46to the defensive blue line for Carolina.

00:49That space, in that 25 feet, all of a sudden, things get stopped up,

00:55and there's no real clean entry.

00:59They talk about clean zone entries, and you see the best power plays in the league

01:04have a speed merchant that brings the puck into the zone in that instance.

01:09You'll see power play breakouts, JP, fans see it all the time,

01:12and Caps fans don't necessarily like the way they're –

01:15it's often referred to as a slingshot.

01:18There's like two or three drop passes before that player reaches the line.

01:21I know what they're trying to do, but the zone entry guy has to get in there

01:26with speed, and it's doubly important against Carolina because of their quickness.

01:31What impresses me the most about Carolina in these two weeks,

01:35in these first four games, is their defensive speed.

01:40Everybody talks about speed on the ice, and they reflect upon it as an offensive gift.

01:45Without a doubt, yes, quickness is important on offense,

01:49but defensively, their sticks are always in the passing lanes.

01:53Their quickness, they're in your face.

01:57They overload.

01:58They swarm is the best, I guess, defensive term that we use.

02:01Yeah, swarm is really –

02:02They swarm you and force you to either fumble a puck,

02:07not do what you want to do with it,

02:09not make the easiest clean entry,

02:11not make the easiest simple pass to get in the zone.

02:13They are forcing you.

02:15They're accelerating you all the time.

02:17So the Caps have to find, in some way, shape, or form,

02:21a better way to enter the zone.

02:23And I know they've been working on it for days.

02:25I know they've been in video meetings trying to find the best avenues,

02:29the best – they call them routes – the best routes to get in the zone.

02:32Once you get set up, then let's see what happens after that.

02:36But you better get in nice and clean so that you can get set up.

02:39So often in the two-minute power play,

02:41hey, Carolina's frustrating you and you just fritter away the first 40 seconds

02:45and then all of a sudden, boom.

02:47And we saw it just magnified in the double minor

02:49where they just couldn't get anything going at all.

02:51And that upset the coaches.

02:53That upset the players more than everybody knows.

02:55That upset the coaches.

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