Power-play struggles must end for Ottawa to thrive
The afternoon host on TSN 1200 got ahead of himself Tuesday when he said the Ottawa Senators’ power play was 0-for-30.
It’s not quite that bad. It’s only 0-for-29.
The last time the Senators scored with the man advantage was 10 games ago, when Ryan Dzingel converted in Game 1 of the NHL’s Eastern Conference semifinal against the New York Rangers. There were few leaves on trees in the national capital region and eight teams still had hopes of winning the Stanley Cup.
Simply put, the Senators’ power play has been a mess.
No wonder head coach Guy Boucher spent a good portion of Monday’s workout emphasizing play with the man advantage. A single power-play goal could provide the Senators with the necessary edge to even the best-of-seven series in which they trail 3-2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
How can it be so ineffective? After a strong power-play showing against Boston — Clarke MacArthur’s series-clinching overtime goal came with the Sens up a skater — we’ve seen nothing but struggles.
“Those are tough questions to answer,” said winger Mark Stone, who is part of a top unit that also features Bobby Ryan and Jean- Gabriel Pageau. “If we had an answer, we would have done it already. But I think, if you look at the power play, we’re really not simplifying (enough). We’re not getting pucks at the net, bodies at the net and finding loose pucks.”
Stone says the Penguins’ power play, which went 3-for-3 in Sunday’s 7-0 romp in Pittsburgh, is a case in point.
“They’re just throwing the puck (at the net) and chipping them in.”
It might be a tad more complicated than that, but you get the essence of Stone’s argument.
The way Boucher sees it, the power play is like the Senators’ game in general. They are forcing plays too soon.
“It’s trying to do things when it’s not there,” he said. “That’s being under pressure. We need to be more poised.
“It’s the same as breaking out (of the defensive zone). It’s nothing different. If you don’t have poise on your breakouts and your zone entries, you’re not going to have it on the power play.”
Whether it’s on the power play or at even strength, Stone says the Senators haven’t done nearly enough to disrupt Penguins goaltender Matt Murray, who has allowed only three goals in eight and a half periods since replacing Marc-Andre Fleury.
“He’s seeing a lot of pucks,” Stone said. “He looks like more of a fundamental goalie than Fleury, who makes all those acrobatic saves you always see on the highlights. We have to take away (Murray ’s) eyes, take away his space.”
In an ideal world, Stone says, the Senators would hold on to the puck a split-second longer in the offensive zone Tuesday night, allowing traffic to develop outside the Penguins’ crease, before shooting.
“We haven’t really done that enough,” Stone said.
“We haven’t had the puck enough to do that.”