Wouldn't almost every fan base say the same thing, even the ones with elite power plays?
The ones with elite power plays wouldn’t (presumably) be worried about how their PP is performing. I imagine Edmonton fans are drooling at the mouth every time their team draws a penalty. Thus, if they go on a bit of a drought, they’re not as concerned. I imagine they have enough games where, even if it doesn‘t convert, the PP looks dangerous and generates actual scoring chances.
Compare that to our situation, where it seems that it’s more productive for the Canes to simply take a penalty immediately after drawing one, just to play 4-on-4, because playing on the powerplay not only doesn’t convert, but kills off any flow or momentum the team may have.
I don’t need to explain the issue with the PP, because we’ve all seen it. Tell me if this sounds familiar:
Passing the puck around the perimeter, no one in front of the net, no movement from the players to force the opposing team out of the PK box. We set up a point shot, hoping for a rebound. If it’s not blocked, it goes to the side of the net. Whoever recovers it tries to blindly pass it out front, behind the back, nothing but a hope and a prayer. Opposing player gets the puck, because there’s 4 of them there, and shoots it down the ice. We spend the next 30 seconds trying to enter the zone. If we manage to do so, repeat the first part again.
It gets old to watch, it’s easily figured out by now, and it will cost us in the playoffs, because if we can’t score on the PP, there’s zero reason not to take liberties against us. Doesn’t matter if they get caught holding, hooking, boarding, etc, because we won’t score on the resulting PP and may even lose momentum by doing so.