Spencer Carbery on Capitals keeping power play together despite early-season struggles: ‘Is my patience wearing thin? Yes. But we are going to see if it works.’

The Washington Capitals have lost four games in a row, and much of that is due to their inept power play. After going 0-for-4 while up a man in their 4-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, the Caps are now 0-for-13 total during the losing streak with no sign of improvement.

Despite the lack of progress, the Capitals don’t plan on making any personnel changes to their top man-advantage unit. At practice on Tuesday, the five-man group remained comprised of Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, Jakob Chychrun, Tom Wilson, and Dylan Strome.

“We’ve thought about it, talked about it, looked at it,” head coach Spencer Carbery said after the skate. “I’ll take responsibility because I would completely understand if you sat here and go, ‘Why the heck would you go back with the same power play unit that just rolled out there and looked the way it did in Buffalo?’ That would be a fair assessment and question of our judgment, and my judgment as the head coach of this hockey team.”

Carbery further explained the rationale for sticking with the veteran group. Among the five, only Wilson (3) and Chychrun (1) have lit the lamp on the power play this season. Alex Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leader in power play goals, has yet to dent the twine up a man and has just seven power play shots on goal.

“We feel like — in the past, certainly not recently, so don’t even think that I’m drawing off positive things that I’ve seen recently — there’s enough there for us to believe that they can get this on track,” Carbery said. “Does it happen? I’m not sure. I hope so. I think we’re trying to give them the adequate information and what they need to do to be successful. Do we think and believe they can be successful? Yes. Is my patience wearing thin? Yes. But we are going to see if it works and hope that they can get this thing on track.”

The Capitals have converted on just six of their 40 power-play attempts so far this season, a 15-percent conversion rate that ranks 27th out of the 32 teams in the league.

In terms of shot generation, the Capitals rank even worse when they have a man advantage, generating just 85.4 shots per hour during five-on-four play. That rate is worse than every team except the Chicago Blackhawks. And, according to the NHL’s zone time statistics, the Capitals rank 30th in offensive-zone time while on the power play.

The power play, under the guidance of assistant coach Kirk Muller, went through similar problems last season. At the 12-game mark during the 2024-25 campaign, the Capitals were actually faring worse up a man, converting on just 9.3 percent of their power-play opportunities.

After some more ups and downs throughout the year, the Capitals eventually worked their way up to a 14th-place finish, scoring on 23.5 percent of their power-play opportunities. However, during the postseason, the team managed just three power-play goals on 22 chances, which contributed to their second-round exit.