LOS ANGELES — Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer on the power play, and when he rolls into town on Tuesday night, the Kings might be forgiven if they ask him for a few pointers.
They are five for their past 56 with the extra man. Most recently, they went 0 for 4 against the NHL’s worst penalty kill during a skin-of-their-teeth victory over the Vancouver Canucks, which was the Kings’ 12th overtime affair in 25 games this season.
The Kings have failed to record multiple power-play goals in any game this year, and when scoring one, their .636 points percentage is only marginally higher than their overall .620 mark.
While they did get a fortuitous game-winner against Ottawa from the second unit and Brandt Clarke just as a penalty expired, the five-forward first unit has been particularly ineffective. Anže Kopitar scored three times with a man up in November, but outside of him, Kevin Fiala’s Nov. 4 man-advantage goal accounted for the top group’s production. Andrei Kuzmenko hasn’t scored since Oct. 18, while Adrian Kempe and Quinton Byfield were each still owners of just one power-play goal all season.
“I think you’ll probably see some broader changes when [defenseman] Drew [Doughty] ends up coming back into the lineup [from a foot injury],” Coach Jim Hiller said after Saturday’s win against Vancouver. “There’s considerations. Normally, we’re afraid of five forwards at the end of a power play, when it’s expiring, because the other team comes out of the box and they put on their best players, and you can get pinned. So, it limits us a little bit in what we can do exactly, but I think when Drew comes [back], you’ll see some different looks.”
Pressed to clarify if that meant the same power-play personnel would persist until Doughty returned, Hiller answered affirmatively.
“Yeah, we may [stick with them], we’re kind of limited in some different things, for some different reasons,” said Hiller, almost certainly referring to the lack of capable players at the offensive blue line after a summer that saw the departures of Jordan Spence and Vladislav Gavrikov.
Yet reports from practice on Monday signaled a reversal of course, with Clarke taking reps as part of a newfangled first unit and Brian Dumoulin manning the top of the second group. In 13 seasons, Dumoulin has just five power-play points, all assists, in stints with Pittsburgh, Seattle, New Jersey, the Ducks and the Kings.
Ovechkin is decidedly more prolific. He surpassed Dave Andreychuk for the most career power-play goals in 2021 and has since deposited 52 more. He’s also the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer, period, having hurdled Wayne Gretzky last season and tallied goal No. 900 on Nov. 5. He had 10 goals last month, nine of which arrived in his past 11 games. Ovechkin, 40, is courting a point-per-game pace at an age when Gretzky’s skates had already been hung up for two years.
After compiling the Eastern Conference’s best record last season, injuries burdened the early going for the Caps. They’ve been the Metropolitan Division’s hottest team of late though, winning six of their past seven games. Former King Matt Roy will skate on Tuesday, but Pierre-Luc Dubois will not, as he’s still recovering from early-season surgery.
CAPITALS AT KINGS
When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: FDSN West, 1330 AM