Speculation: The Powerplay Thread

[batting1k]

Current PP rank: 28th, 13.9%

The powerplay is starting to become one of the reasons why some games are being lost. An average powerplay could've gotten at least a point out of the Washington game and we've had a bunch of 1 goal games that could've gotten us a point or 2 had we scored a powerplay goal.

Night in, night out, the powerplay is the same and nothing has really changed aside from personnel despite being ranked 28th in the league. Only Edmonton and Buffalo are ranked worse at 12.6% and 9.7% respectively. If we want to make a serious push in the playoffs and not just get in and be done with it, we need at least an average powerplay which is about a 18%-20% success rate. Assuming Tallon isn't going to be acquiring a bona fide scorer any time soon (or at least not till the deadline maybe), what do you all think Gallant needs to do with this powerplay to get it scoring? We saw vs. Washington and pretty much all of the past 2 seasons shots going wide, guys standing still, passing too much, etc. Even with the 5 on 3, we could score. We have guys who can score like Bjugstad, Hayes, etc...are we not using these guys properly?

Is this fixable without making a trade of some sort?

So, step into Gallant's shoes....what do you do with the powerplay? What PP combos do you put out there? Hopefully we can watch our powerplay evolve and discuss it here and maybe some of the players will see this thread and score some powerplay goals. I want to get a good discussion going about this

 

[FLpanthers16]

Bjugstad on the point and the go from there.

He really needs to be setup like Stamkos,OVI etc.

 

[vendetta]

Bjugstad on the point and the go from there.

He really needs to be setup like Stamkos,OVI etc.

He did last game a couple times and missed the net... he's scored one pp goal froom that spot and it was a wrist shot not a one timer... moving a couple guys to different spots won't magically help the pp.. time and more experience fRon our young players will improve it... sorry but that's all

 

[Android 16]

-Move the puck quicker
-Move the play quicker
-Move yourself quicker
-Don't be predictable
-Have confidence
-Experiment with 4 forwards and Ekblad

Unit 1: Umbrella of Jokinen, Ekblad, Bjugstad
Hayes in front of the goal and Boyes roaming around the high slot

Unit 2: Ekblad and Kulikov on the points
Jokinen, Pirri and Trocheck

Campbell is in a funk right now and he shouldn't be given powerplay opportunities. He reacts too slowly and his shot is terrible, he can't score and he can't create rebound chances with it. Keep him away from the powerplay. Ya and he clogs the entry way too much as well.

 

[Crossbar]

-Move the puck quicker
-Move the play quicker
-Move yourself quicker
-Don't be predictable
-Have confidence
-Experiment with 4 forwards and Ekblad

Unit 1: Umbrella of Jokinen, Ekblad, Bjugstad
Hayes in front of the goal and Boyes roaming around the high slot

Unit 2: Ekblad and Kulikov on the points
Jokinen, Pirri and Trocheck

Keep Campbell away from the powerplay. He's in a funk right now and he shouldn't be given powerplay opportunites. He reacts too slowly and his shot is terrible, he can't score and he can't create rebound chances with it. Keep him away from the powerplay.

Great post, agree with all.

So tired of Campbell constantly putting everyone offside, kills so much of the offensive flow.

 

[Android 16]

Great post, agree with all.

So tired of Campbell constantly putting everyone offside, kills so much of the offensive flow.

What kills me is his shot. We already know he's inaccurate, but we're ok with that if the shot creates rebounds. But, that's tough to accomplish when you try to pick the corners and go high and wide constantly. He seems so out of sync lately; trying to do too much.

 

[vendetta]

-Move the puck quicker
-Move the play quicker
-Move yourself quicker
-Don't be predictable
-Have confidence
-Experiment with 4 forwards and Ekblad

Unit 1: Umbrella of Jokinen, Ekblad, Bjugstad
Hayes in front of the goal and Boyes roaming around the high slot

Unit 2: Ekblad and Kulikov on the points
Jokinen, Pirri and Trocheck

Campbell is in a funk right now and he shouldn't be given powerplay opportunities. He reacts too slowly and his shot is terrible, he can't score and he can't create rebound chances with it. Keep him away from the powerplay. Ya and he clogs the entry way too much as well.

Don't wanna let a 19 year old barkov have any pp experience?

 

[Android 16]

-Move the puck quicker
-Move the play quicker
-Move yourself quicker
-Don't be predictable
-Have confidence
-Experiment with 4 forwards and Ekblad

Unit 1: Umbrella of Jokinen, Ekblad, Bjugstad
Hayes in front of the goal and Boyes roaming around the high slot

Unit 2: Ekblad and Kulikov on the points
Jokinen, Pirri and Barkov

Campbell is in a funk right now and he shouldn't be given powerplay opportunities. He reacts too slowly and his shot is terrible, he can't score and he can't create rebound chances with it. Keep him away from the powerplay. Ya and he clogs the entry way too much as well.

Fixed. I can justify using Barkov over Trocheck for that unit. He's better at deflecting pucks, bigger body, better passer I guess.

 

[gudzilla]

trocheck get too much love considering he's been pretty bad lately

 

[spacemanatee]

trocheck get too much love considering he's been pretty bad lately

he's alright i know you wrote lately but what do people expect from him? i mean, he's on pace for 0,5 ppg which is awesome imo. he has his ups and downs but he's been decent to say at least.

 

[gudzilla]

he's alright i know you wrote lately but what do people expect from him? i mean, he's on pace for 0,5 ppg which is awesome imo. he has his ups and downs but he's been decent to say at least.

absolutely, but giving him the benefit of the doubt over barkov? thats just plain wrong

barkov is better than him at basically everything

barekov needs to play more

 

[spacemanatee]

absolutely, but giving him the benefit of the doubt over barkov? thats just plain wrong

barkov is better than him at basically everything

barekov needs to play more

that he shouldn't. i tought you meant just in general. sry
i like him on the pp tho, he should mabye get a chance instead of a guy like jokinen. i'm not fond of him at all but if you look at the lines that AaronEkblad posted i'd slot vinny where pirri is for the obvious reason that pirri won't play our next game

 

[SoupyFIN]

-Move the puck quicker
-Move the play quicker
-Move yourself quicker
-Don't be predictable
-Have confidence
-Experiment with 4 forwards and Ekblad

Unit 1: Umbrella of Jokinen, Ekblad, Bjugstad
Hayes in front of the goal and Boyes roaming around the high slot

Unit 2: Ekblad and Kulikov on the points
Jokinen, Pirri and Trocheck

Campbell is in a funk right now and he shouldn't be given powerplay opportunities. He reacts too slowly and his shot is terrible, he can't score and he can't create rebound chances with it. Keep him away from the powerplay. Ya and he clogs the entry way too much as well.

Lack of these two isn't the problem, quite the opposite actually. They move it too fast to handle and overreact to the pressure given by the PK, which usually leads to a turnover.

And on the Ekblad's pair problem, trying a forward there isn't even worth trying if that said forward isn't an upgrade on Campbell. Plus, it has to be a left-handed shot to make it work. So let's see:

- Huberdeau, nope.
- JJ, nope.
- Flash, nope.
- Pirri, nope.
- Barkov, maybe.

May I remind you guys that Ekblad missed like 5 prime shots on his own (ála Gudbranson) in the previous game, so there's that. Ever since the Pittsburgh games when teams started to take that space away from him, Ekblad's accuracy has been really lacking.

absolutely, but giving him the benefit of the doubt over barkov? thats just plain wrong

barkov is better than him at basically everything

barekov needs to play more

But.. we should trade Barkov because Trocheck could easily replace him..

Right guys?

 

[spacemanatee]

But.. we should trade Barkov because Trocheck could easily replace him..

Right guys?

hehe wow how many of these kind of posts are you gonna make dude? we get it, you don't have to bring it up everytime someone is mentioning barkov.

 

[RogerRoger]

Something I'd like to see is a dman passing the puck to Ekblad and then going crashing to the net. Hopefully dragging a opposite forward a bit down and just creating some commotion in front of the net. Meanwhile the winger comes from down low to the top of the circle in the vacated spot and get a one timer opportunity.

We need some set up play that will open things up for the dmen. Right now no one respect the wingers since everyone know they can't score from up top.

 

[Crossbar]

May I remind you guys that Ekblad missed like 5 prime shots on his own (ála Gudbranson) in the previous game, so there's that. Ever since the Pittsburgh games when teams started to take that space away from him, Ekblad's accuracy has been really lacking.

This is the Brian Campbell effect, pressure Ekblad because Campbell isn't worth covering. Everyone in the building knows Campbell is thinking pass and goalies have nothing to fear from his shot anyway.

I don't see why we don't have our righties play on the left side of the ice and vise versa for the lefties, that's how one-timers are created, just look at Stamkos and Brett Hull when he played.

 

[MintyFresh88]

When's the last time the Panthers worked the puck down low and connected on a back door pass?

It's the same process every time. If we lose the initial faceoff and the other team clears the puck, it's basically a coin flip on whether we'll even get set up for the remainder of the PP. In the unlikely event we do, it's basically everyone standing around, the D will pass it back and forth with an occassional pass to the half boards, then back to the D.

Like others have said, opposing teams know Campbell isn't shooting, so all they have to do is take the shot away from Ekblad or Bjugstad and it's a wrap.

I'd like to see the puck worked down low more often, look for a bang bang play in front or back door...unfortunately, it just doesn't appear like we have anyone capable of making this type of pass.

 

[Mogo]

Move the puck quicker
Dont stand still the whole PP
Cause traffic in front
Shoot the puck
POSITION Sticksides correctly

We have way too little traffic in front of the net. That's why we don't have enough space to move the puck

 

[FlaPnthrsPunk]

Watching the power play almost killed me in the Caps game. I watch other teams PPs knowing how dismal ours is and it's clear to see why ours is ineffective.

Most of the time, nobody moves around the cause the opposing defense to block the shot or get in front of the net so it never gets to goaltender.

Typically, there's too much passing and then when they go into "panic mode," they end up shooting a big bomb that completely misses the net.

If we miss the playoffs, I can very much place the blame on the lack of power play success and offense.

 

[CHGoalie27]

-Move the puck quicker
-Move the play quicker
-Move yourself quicker
-Don't be predictable
-Have confidence
-Experiment with 4 forwards and Ekblad

Unit 1: Umbrella of Jokinen, Ekblad, Bjugstad
Hayes in front of the goal and Boyes roaming around the high slot

Unit 2: Ekblad and Kulikov on the points
Jokinen, Pirri and Trocheck

Campbell is in a funk right now and he shouldn't be given powerplay opportunities. He reacts too slowly and his shot is terrible, he can't score and he can't create rebound chances with it. Keep him away from the powerplay. Ya and he clogs the entry way too much as well.

Bump. All of it.

Don't care how many eyes will roll, I wonder what would've been if Rocco was given more than that ONE man advantage opportunity (that he obviously did quite well).

 

[barkovcanfinnish]

Simple. Hit the flippin' net on these shots from the point! I mean, I understand when the shots are blocked or even when it occasionally misses but holy moly it seems like whenever a shot comes from the point it misses big time and is an easy clear for the other team.

Another problem is getting the PP set up. Turning it over right when we are crossing the blue line wastes precious pp time. Gotta improve on the zone entries.

I like the pp unit of Hayes, Huby, and Bjugstad. However, I wouldn't mind switching Huby with Jokinen. Have the 2nd PP be Barkov, Huby, and Boyes.

The defense on the PP is fine, just make the goalie make a save boys it's getting painful to watch!

 

[Juggernaut27]

Totally agree.

As Potvin loves to say 'the best pass is a shot on net'.

Some of the games we've had lots of shots 5v5 the PP struggles to even get shots on goal. I think everyone (most...) is trying a bit too hard on the PP and 'squeezing the sticks' a little. One of the things we all agree Ekblad does well is find a way to hit the net.

I hope the coaching staff reads this thread. Ha.

 

[SoupyFIN]

This is the Brian Campbell effect, pressure Ekblad because Campbell isn't worth covering. Everyone in the building knows Campbell is thinking pass and goalies have nothing to fear from his shot anyway.

I don't see why we don't have our righties play on the left side of the ice and vise versa for the lefties, that's how one-timers are created, just look at Stamkos and Brett Hull when he played.

But the thing is, we don't have anyone else that's better at shooting to play with Ekblad. It would be the same with another player not named Campbell.

Of all the left-handed guys, Pirri probably has the best shot, but I doubt he's going to get PP-time with the current slump he's having. Barkov has an above average shot, but he rarely uses it and teams know that he'll be looking for the pass first. Huberdeau, another pass first guy. Flash, don't even bother. Kulikov, his accuracy is even worse than Campbell's.

So basically we'd be back to square one, complaining how <insert name of player who's playing the point with Ekblad> doesn't shoot it enough or misses by a country mile.

There's bigger problems with the PP than just replacing one guy.

 

[RogerRoger]

Olsen's shot is decent, I wonder if he could work well with Ekblad on the PP.

 

[batting1k]

Like I've said before, I'd want to see Bjugstad waiting in the faceoff circle like Ovechkin and Stamkos and have someone feed him the puck for one timers. The goal should be to get the puck to him in that area which you can tell Tampa and Washington always make their top priority on the PP.

Here's the goal Bjugstad scored from the circle vs. San Jose. He wasn't really set up for it per se, but he can definitely score from that location of given a good pass and some space.

[NHL]2014020290-439-a[/NHL]