Of all the aspects of the Ducks’ game that have gone haywire over the past few seasons, nothing has been as frustrating, as puzzling, as debilitating for the Ducks as their play while on the power play. Nothing has hindered their ability to score and to win more than misfiring while on it.
Since leading the NHL with a 23.1% success rate in 2015-16, the Ducks have gotten progressively worse on the power play. They dropped to 18.7% in 2016-17, then to 17.8% in 2017-18, then to 17% in 2018-19, then to 14.7% last season.
Through the first 15 games of this season, the Ducks are 3 for 34 (8.8%), ranking 29th out of 31 teams going into Saturday’s games around the league. Only the Minnesota Wild (8.5%) and the Detroit Red Wings (7.1%) were worse going into Saturday.
Meanwhile, other teams have become progressively more successful in recent seasons. The Washington Capitals led the NHL with a 37% success rate at the start of business around the league Saturday. Last season, the Edmonton Oilers led the league at 29.5%.
Coach Dallas Eakins called it “a great challenge” to improve the Ducks’ power play. He also said he believed it was more about “will than skill” and over the years their failure while skating with the man-advantage has become “more mental than it is anything.”
“I can honestly say I’m not sure what it is,” he said. “We’ve tried different setups. We’ve tried different groups. It’s been going on here, and it’s almost like this black cloud over top of us that’s about to rain down on us or bring some bad weather that we can’t get out of our organization.”
Among the most noteworthy changes Eakins made to the top power-play unit was shifting Ryan Getzlaf from his customary spot on the perimeter to a position closer to the opposing net. It paid off finally when Getzlaf scored from close range in a 5-4 loss Tuesday to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Getzlaf pumped his fist in celebration after chipping home a perimeter pass from Rickard Rakell for his first goal of the season. He was rewarded finally for his net-front presence after so many other chances had gone awry to start 2020-21.
The Ducks then misfired on two power-play chances during their 1-0 victory Thursday over Vegas, another example of how a man-advantage goal or two might have eased their burden. Their scoring has lagged because their power play has been so poor.
The Ducks’ average of 1.93 goals per game was tied with Detroit for last in the NHL going into Saturday. By contrast, the Toronto Maple Leafs led the league with an average of 3.71 goals going into their game against the Montreal Canadiens, who were fourth with an average of 3.57.
“We’ve had some unbelievable power plays the last couple of games, just some incredible chances,” Eakins said, referring to a first-period opportunity in which they had seven shots Feb. 6 against the San Jose Sharks “Somehow it’s off the post or it hits a foot or the goalie makes a huge save.
“It’s like you can’t buy one. (But) we continue on because the one thing we’re never going to do is give up on it. We do have players, I still believe, who can execute and score. We’ve just got to shake this doom and gloom on the power play because it has built up over years. It just has.”
SCHEDULE CHANGE
The Ducks were originally scheduled to play the Sharks on Saturday in San Jose, but the game was moved to April 6 to accommodate the Sharks and the Golden Knights. Three games between the Sharks and Golden Knights had to be rescheduled because of a COVID-19 outbreak.
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February 14, 2021 at 03:49AM
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Ducks’ low-energy power play continues to decline - OCRegister
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