He's so big that he's able to protect the puck and make the pass pretty easily. Being able to protect the puck and get out of trouble is what makes the good PP QBs stand out from the rest. Dobson can shoot and pass just fine, but when he's pressured he doesn't get away well enough for anyone to respect his ability and just back off.
Noesen snuck behind the net and Mayfield never bothered to locate him. He doesn't need to be on top of him but if he took one stride right he's blocking that lane completely. A complete blunder.
Carolina has done that a few times this series and gives the Islanders defense problems.
We also just don't have the skill around the lineup to make quick passes to create time and space on the PP. And we always struggle against the PKs that don't sit in a box but instead pressure the puck constantly, which the Canes do well.
When you look around the league, the good PPs are making 2 quick passes in the face of that pressure and quickly create a 4 on 3 and a good scoring chance. Dobson can't do it as a PP, and nobody else out there can do it either.
I've always thought of Barzal as not a PP player. He's a north-south, on-the-rush player. And I've always thought that teams with players like him tend to struggle on the PP because the coaches are never creative enough to separate good offensive players from good PP players (to be fair, it's not like we have a lot of either). They take the players with the most points and put them on the top PP unit, regardless of their skillset. Ironically, Barzal is the only one who can create a tiny bit of space because of his edge work in tight spaces. But, he is not a quick decision maker when the PP runs through him, and he has no shot threat from the half wall.
We need a one-timer threat and a much better PP qb.
