Whenever Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau gets impatient with his team's power play, it's usually because the men on the ice are playing just a little too cute. Granted, when you can count on players like Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Mike Green, you can understand why the power play unit might fall into the trap of making one more perfect pass instead of just firing from the puck from the point and letting somebody down low take care of the garbage goals.
Of course, the one essential element in keeping the game plan that simple has been the presence of a player down low willing to pay a physical price to claim that real estate. Oh, and it doesn't hurt if that player has soft hands and a killer instinct to pounce on loose pucks and bang them home. The prototype for such a player is easy to find: Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom.
Over the course of two seasons, team captain Chris Clark made it clear he was willing to do the job, and he made the most of it. Clark scored 50 goals in the two years he regularly rode shotgun on Ovechkin's opposite wing. Unfortuantely for Clark, paying that physical price has landed him on the team's injured list all too often over the past 14 months. With him out of the lineup, no other player has really stepped up to claim the role in Washington.
But last night, the team got a closer look at the young man who may very well be the solution one day: winger Oskar Osala.
