The Golden Knights found a formula for success on the power play late.
Adding center Chandler Stephenson to the first unit on April 14 provided a boost once the group became comfortable with each other. He opened up for high tips from the bumper spot and proved adept at picking up rebounds in front of the net.
The Knights finished with four power-play goals in their last five games. Stephenson scored three.
It was an impressive last breath. He still made no secret of the fact that the unit generated frustration far more often than scoring throughout the season.
The Knights’ power play, aside from the late flurry, had another disappointing year and failed to produce consistently. He remains a major question mark on the Knights’ path back to Stanley Cup contention.
“I think we have the right manpower to create a good power play,” left wing Max Pacioretty said. “I thought a guy like (Stephenson) took our power play to a new level there at the end, and that’s what makes it hurt a little bit more if we feel like we could have done some damage in the playoffs on the power play. . which is an area that was talked about a lot last year.”
The Knights’ power play was a major area of concern in the 2021 postseason.
They went 4-for-43 in the playoffs overall and 0-for-15 in their semifinal loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Then, after having an offseason to gauge things, the Knights started 0-for-19 in their first 10 games.
They finished 25th on the power play (18.4 percent), worse than every playoff team except Los Angeles. They managed a power-play goal in 30 of their 82 games. That’s despite having seven forwards on the roster who have at least $5 million against the cap and two capable quarterbacks in defensemen Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo.
One problem for the Knights was that their high-powered personnel were not available to them. Three members of his first unit at the end of the year — Pacioretty (39 games), captain Mark Stone (37) and center Jack Eichel (34) — played less than half the season. Units often had to be shuffled, which made chemistry harder to find.
“When you look at the best power plays in the league, they’ve been together for three, four, five years,” Theodore said. “I think a lot of that is consistency and hopefully we can pull that off.”
The Knights also struggled to create power plays. They finished last in the NHL in tied penalties with 262. Nashville drew the most with 366. Stone pointed to the offensive zone, saying the team didn’t put opponents in tight spots often enough to force them to take penalties. The Knights had two or fewer power play opportunities in half of their games.
“It hits your pace,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “All of a sudden you’ve played five games and haven’t had a power play goal, which is a real cloud for your team, and you may only have eight chances.”
The struggles led to a year-long search for answers. Assistant coach Steve Spott, who was with coach Pete DeBoer when San Jose’s power play ranked seventh during his 2015-19 tenure, led the unit to start the season. Assistant coach Ryan Craig, who had the Knights ranked 16th in parts of three seasons before DeBoer was hired, took over on March 6.
The change provided a boost. The Knights’ power play scored on 20 percent of their chances with Craig, compared to 17.6 percent with Spott. However, nineteen teams had a mark above 20 percent this season.
“We’re going to see everything,” DeBoer said. “We’ll keep working on this until we get it right and I’m confident we will.”
Contact Ben Gotz at [email protected]. Follow @BenSGotz On twitter.
Reference-www.reviewjournal.com