Renard
Registered User
Its player failure not strategy problem.
We are in 35 games 23rd spot at PP with 18.6%
Ofc this isnt Montgomery problem, but we are 26th at PK with 76.6%
Good team should have around 100 if you ad PP + PK, but we get only 93.2.
And we aren't allowed to criticize our PP coach Montgomery. @Brockon
There are several ways a power play can fail, it seems to me.
One way, the most frustrating, is to be unable to get the puck in the offensive zone. Who is carrying the puck up ice for us in the first unit? Dunn is fast and elusive. Krug doesn't seem to be.
You lose valuable power play time if you lose the faceoffs to start the power play. I am assuming that O'Reilly is taking those draws, and is winning his share.
I suppose the heart of the matter is what we do with the puck in the offensive zone. For several years, the Blues power play was mainly Shattenkirk shooting from the point, and Backes screening the goalie and deflecting shots and jumping on rebounds. It worked often enough to give us a decent power play.
But shooting from the point is taking the play the defense gives you. It's a low percentage play. You would hope for more puck movement and shots from forwards.
The only other consistent power play success I remember from recent years was Brad Boyes setting up on left wing and shooting one-timers. But opponents seemed to figured out how to defend it after a season.