Together again: Canucks’ power play rarin’ to go
VANCOUVER — There was always reason to believe the power play could be much better than advertised.
There was a proven faceoff specialist. There was the option of loading up one of two deadly shots from the dots. There was a strong down-low presence, a smart slot specialist and point puck distributor. So much for assistant coach and special-teams architect Newell Brown to tinker with and build upon.
As much as the Vancouver Canucks have had to experiment with first-unit deployments because of injuries to Elias Pettersson, Sven Baerstchi, Alex Edler and Brock Boeser, there was still an emerging talent pool to draw from and confidence that varied man-advantage manipulations in a changing, fast-paced game could work in their favour.
Even in the absence of Boeser, who missed 11 consecutive games with a groin strain that morphed into an adductor irritiation and hernia scare, the Canucks still struck for power-play goals in seven games without the right winger.
And now that Boeser has returned to join Pettersson, Horvat, Edler and Sam Gagner on the first unit, the Canucks can dare to dream of making Pacific Division headway. After all, with four power-play goals in three games to start this NHL season, there was already a foundation.
Its why being a mid-pack team at even-strength scoring should be trumped by a power play potentially better than 18th-ranked at 19.5 per cent proficiency. It could eventually crack the top 10.
Horvat and Pettersson have four power-play goals apiece and Pettersson’s gaudy 27.7 per cent shooting accuracy is why he was the go-to guy in Boeser’s absence. However, three shots and 10 attempts by Boeser on Tuesday — including ringing a backhander off the post — suggests he has healed because the 21-year-old looked leaner and his stride was stronger.
“He’s a proven goalscorer and it’s tough when you have a guy like that out for other guys to fill that void,” said Horvat, who owns a 54.5 per cent face-off success rate. “It’s going to be great to have that double [power play] threat.
“Obviously, Petey has established himself on the half wall pretty well and guys respect his one-timer. To have Brock on the other side and Eagle [Edler] feeding both of them, they’re going to have to pick and choose which guy they’re going to cover now. It’s going to be huge for our group.”
The popular 1-3-1 power-play formation — three players aligned down the middle like an ‘I’ formation in football — remains viable. It allows the net-front forward to provide screen and tips and move from side to side to allow other options. The middle man does more than just shoot, he can act as a puck distributor and set high screens.
The Canucks have the personnel, pace and big-shot potential to be even more creative and maybe one day rival the glory days.
The Canucks had the No. 1 ranked unit in 2011 (24.3 per cent) and the No. 4 in 2012 (19.8). They got 18 power-play goals from Daniel Sedin, 15 from Ryan Kesler in 2010-11 and having the smoothskating Christian Ehrhoff run the show are fond memories. After all, Sami Salo was limited to 27 regular-season games that season, but his two 5-on-3 power-play blasts in Game 4 of the Western Conference final series paved the way for a Stanley Cup final appearance.
“It [power play] has become a lot more specialized,” Brown said of today’s game. “Teams really study what you’re doing and put up good defences and you have to change with the times and know what’s going on in the game.”