New Bedford native Scott Allen a Capital gain for Washington

If you tune into Saturday's Bruins-Capitals game (ABC, 3:30 pm), that familiar face on the visiting bench next to Peter Laviolette and his other assistant coaches belongs to Scotty Allen.

At age 56, the New Bedford native is still doing what he loves, only in the National Hockey League this year.

As rare as the opportunity is to work with a Stanley Cup (2018) core of players, Allen did not predicate his career on a job like this one. His sleeves were every bit as rolled up and his smile every bit as wide during the prior 27 years in which his coaching career has weaved like a series of railroad tracks across the United States and parts of Canada.

Whether at one of the many obscure, minor-league outposts that dot his resume or in the show, the most-important players to Allen are the ones he will see today. The motivation never changes.

"When we win, I'm having a blast, but it's more so the hate of the losing," said Allen on Thursday. "The (Capitals) organization is top notch. Lavvy, when he talked to me about the job, he told me he was going to talk to other guys. I wanted to stay in the organization."

The two go back to the NHL's lockout season of 2004-05, when Laviolette was the Carolina Hurricanes' head coach and Allen was Tom Rowe's assistant coach in Lowell. The Hurricanes and the Calgary Flames shared affiliation with the AHL Lock Monsters.

After 15 years zig-zagging across each other on the hockey map, Allen was hired by the Capitals to coach the Hershey (Pa.) Bears, a job he had for three years before the parent club came calling. "I was fortunate to get the job in Hershey; my contract was with Washington," he said.

Laviolette's equally long coaching career has offered him a productive outlet for his relentless compete level. His resume includes the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006, two other Cup finals with Philadelphia (2010) and Nashville (2017), and before those the Providence Bruins' only Calder Cup championship in 1999.

"I've always had a ton of respect for him," said Allen, who chalks his own longevity up to his interest in continuing the learn. "I don't think it naturally happens. So many guys are not coaching anymore because they didn't stay current. The athletes are different themselves.

"You have to stay current ... I'm a big believer in research and development. I'm not a copycat guy. What Boston's done this year, a lot of people will copy. I don't believe you can do that. I've evolved through research and development, and I'm not afraid to try different things."

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Allen is committed to know the players as well as the game itself.

"You have to build relationships with the players as well. I pride myself in that," he said.

Allen runs the Capitals' penalty kill and works with the forwards.

At an 81.4% efficiency rating, Washington's penalty kill is ninth best out of 32 NHL teams. When Allen coached in Arizona, the otherwise-inept Coyotes were among the best in the league at stopping the man advantage.

The Capitals, like the Red Wings, Blackhawks, Bruins and Penguins before them, are trying to maintain their championship core of the players and retool the surrounding roster to make another run at the Cup before John Carlson, Niklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Evgeni Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov are done trying.

"Can they stay healthy? That's been our biggest challenge," said Allen. Wilson and Backstrom have had major surgeries, and the Caps lost free-agent signee Connor Brown five games into the season. It appears Washington was gaining traction when they lost Carlson, their franchise defenseman.

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Allen was not yet in the organization when Washington won the Stanley Cup in 2018, but he saw the hard work and the satisfaction. Now he's trying to help the Caps get back to the winner's circle.

"When I watched the celebration, Ovie, how he celebrated, to get here and work with these guys on an everyday basis, the respect factor has just gone up with these guys. I'd love to see them do it again," he said.

In 27 years coaching professional hockey, Allen has never stopped building and moving forward in his thinking.

"I have my foundation, and every year I've added to that foundation. I'm not just coasting basically because, if you coast, you're done."

Coaching is a day-by-day challenge, and Allen is determined after 27 years to keep getting better at it. As long as he can sense self-improvement and in the players around him, he'll keep on coaching.

"I'll probably be retiring when they throw dirt on me," he said.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford's Scotty Allen assisting on Washington Capitals bench