This article is part of our The Man Advantage series.
We know the Lightning are scoring at a historic rate, but did you know that six of the top 10 most dangerous power play units in the cap era are from this season? The overall level of talent in the league has never been better and the explosion of offense is real. Here are some notable power plays, both the good and the bad.
HOT POWER PLAYS
Arizona Coyotes
Did the Coyotes get the better end of the Blackhawks again? Since joining the Coyotes, Nick Schmaltz has scored four goals and nine points in nine games, with all four goals and one assist coming with the man advantage. The last two weeks, the Coyotes scored a power-play goal in four of six games, going 4-for-16 overall. That's a huge improvement since the beginning of the season and though their power play ranks 23rd at 17 percent, it's definitely trending up.
The absence of Alex Galchenyk, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, will sting because the Coyotes offense isn't deep enough to play a four-forward set-up in the first place, but at least Jakob Chychrun has returned to the lineup to stabilize the blue line. The return of Vinnie Hinostroza will also give Rick Tocchet another weapon to deploy if Conor Garland doesn't stick.
Vegas Golden Knights
After the expansion Knights marched to the Stanley Cup Finals, watching them stumble out of the gate this season seemed like a rite of passage for them to join the long list of
We know the Lightning are scoring at a historic rate, but did you know that six of the top 10 most dangerous power play units in the cap era are from this season? The overall level of talent in the league has never been better and the explosion of offense is real. Here are some notable power plays, both the good and the bad.
HOT POWER PLAYS
Arizona Coyotes
Did the Coyotes get the better end of the Blackhawks again? Since joining the Coyotes, Nick Schmaltz has scored four goals and nine points in nine games, with all four goals and one assist coming with the man advantage. The last two weeks, the Coyotes scored a power-play goal in four of six games, going 4-for-16 overall. That's a huge improvement since the beginning of the season and though their power play ranks 23rd at 17 percent, it's definitely trending up.
The absence of Alex Galchenyk, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, will sting because the Coyotes offense isn't deep enough to play a four-forward set-up in the first place, but at least Jakob Chychrun has returned to the lineup to stabilize the blue line. The return of Vinnie Hinostroza will also give Rick Tocchet another weapon to deploy if Conor Garland doesn't stick.
Vegas Golden Knights
After the expansion Knights marched to the Stanley Cup Finals, watching them stumble out of the gate this season seemed like a rite of passage for them to join the long list of fanbases who have been disappointed amidst high expectations. But with seven wins in their last 10 games, the Knights are once again in playoff contention. It's no coincidence, of course, that their winning ways is due to a much-improved power play; they've operated at a 26.1 percent efficiency (6-for-23) this month, well above their 20.5 percent rate (23-for-112) this season, including a 2-for-6 performance in a 5-3 win against the Capitals.
A large part of their success has been the play of Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault, who have combined for seven power-points the last two weeks. William Karlsson, who took Max Pacioretty's spot on the top unit, scored a power-play goal against the Devils on Friday, giving him five on the season, and needs just three more to match last season's total. Speaking of which, Karlsson is still hard-pressed to replicate his 43-goal performance, but his shooting percentage is still at elite levels and more opportunities on the power play will help pad his stats.
COLD POWER PLAYS
Minnesota Wild
How does Minnesota's seventh-ranked power play end up in the cold? By being wildly inconsistent, that's how. Take away the Wild's perfect outings where they went 3-for-3 against the Canucks on Dec. 4 and 4-for-4 against the Habs on Dec. 11, and you have a power play that's gone 0-for-14 in December. In classic Bruce Boudreau fashion, when things are going well, they're great, but when things go bad, they're really bad. In two games against the Flames, whose penalty kill ranks 16th at 79 percent, they went 0-for-9, and against the Panthers they failed to draw a single penalty.
Their efficiency is going to take a bit hit if Matt Dumba, who did not finish Saturday's game after a fight against Matt Tkachuk, is sidelined any longer. Jonas Brodin stepped in and took over for Dumba, but with a career-high of 25 points and little offensive upside to speak of, it's possible Boudreau may elect to run four forwards with Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon splitting duties since they run 1A and 1B units anyway.
Montreal Canadiens
The belief was that the return of Shea Weber would give the Habs' power play a huge boost – it hasn't. Through eight games, Weber is still looking for his first PPP of the season, and the last two weeks they've gone 0-for-20 with the man advantage, dropping their power play efficiency from 25th to 30th and just 0.4 percentage points ahead of the last-place Blackhawks. One recent development of concern is the power play's inability to adjust; the Habs have played the Sens three times this month, and the power play has gone 0-for-2, 0-for-3 and 0-for-4 in those games.
Guy Boucher may have a reputation for being an evil defensive hockey genius, but the Sens rank 28th in penalty killing and have allowed the most goals in the league, so not only are the Habs failing, they're failing in increasingly embarrassing fashion. Though past success isn't always a good indicator of future success, the silver lining is Kirk Muller's track record of success running the Habs' power play under Michel Therrien.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers' horrid four-game road trip through Western Canada is clearly their lowest point so far this season. They went 0-3-1 with 22 goals allowed and despite a promising group of young players they've taken a huge step backward as a team. In their most two most recent games against the Oilers and the Canucks, they lost by a combined score of 9-1 and went 0-for-9 on the power play. A few power-play goals wouldn't have changed the outcome, but it's concerning that a group that includes All-Stars Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek and in-vogue skating defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim can be so ineffective. It's gotten worse every year, too, from 11th in Dave Hakstol's first season to 14th, to 15th and now 29th. Everyone's at least thinking it now: Hakstol has run out of time, and the only way to turn the team around is to fire the guy who leads them.
One major difference on the Flyers' power play this season has been their inability to get shots through from the point. In past years, the blue line has been a good source of offense, but this season they're taking fewer attempts and getting fewer shots on net. Provorov is averaging 1.8 shots per game when he averaged 2.5 last season, and Gostisbehere's number has also dropped from 2.8 to 2.3. Both defensemen, who were fantasy studs last season, are duds this season and likely will remain that way.
