What's wrong with the power-play? Flames searching for answers

20 days ago

Calgary Herald

Mikael Backlund and teammates are pictured before the Calgary Flames’ captain was honoured for reaching 1,000 games played in the NHL at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Flames went on to defeat the New Jersey Devils 3-0, but their struggling power-play went 0-for-4. Photo by Darren Makowichuk /Postmedia

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Calgary Flames - Figure 1 — Photo Calgary Herald

The Calgary Flames don’t need to reinvent the wheel to get their power-play back on track.

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The formula for being effective with the man-advantage isn’t necessarily all that complicated and a back-to-basics approach might be the cure to whatever is ailing a power-play that hasn’t buried a goal in half-a-dozen games.

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Keep things simple. Create traffic in front of the net. Win faceoffs and make sure your shot volume is high.

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Recently, though, that just isn’t what’s been happening.

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“It sucks (because) the power-play is a huge part of our game and sometimes it’s going to give you the extra boost and that win,” said Flames winger Jonathan Huberdeau, who is a fixture on the top power-play unit. “Individually, you need to work hard, put on the work boots. Sometimes I think we think the power-play is going to be easy and it’s not, so I think we’ve got to get out there and play harder, feel like it’s five-on-five and play hard.”

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The Flames’ power-play numbers have been ugly over the past two weeks.

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They’ve gone 0-for-20 since Blake Coleman scored on a five-on-four in the first period of their overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 19. That’s six full games without a power-play goal, plus two periods in Seattle.

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On Friday against the New Jersey Devils, they didn’t score in four attempts and forced Jacob Markstrom to make only four saves on those opportunities.

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Anecdotally, the Flames seem to do OK once they’re set up in their opponents’ zone and are able to cycle the puck.

Calgary Flames - Figure 2 — Photo Calgary Herald

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It’s getting set up that’s been the challenge.

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Blake Coleman, right, celebrates his power-play goal with Tyson Barrie against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Oct. 19, 2024. Since then, the Calgary Flames have gone 0-for-20 with the man-advantage. Photo by Steph Chambers /Getty Images

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There are a couple factors there.

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It starts with success at the dot, as the Flames are winning only 51.5% of their faceoffs when they’re on the man-advantage, which is 20th best in the NHL. That’s slightly better than their overall 45.1% success rate, which is second-worst in the NHL this season, but it still means their opponents are gaining possession and able to clear the puck more often than they’d like.

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“I think obviously faceoffs off the start of a power-play are pretty key,” said Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar. “If we continue to keep breaking it in, guys get a little bit more tired. You’ve got to go back for a puck and break it in again, so that first faceoff is key, but then when you do, it’s obviously not going to happen every time but we’ve got to break in, sometimes we do struggle with the break-ins.”

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Entering the offensive zone has been a challenge, with the Flames repeatedly getting the puck to the opposition blue-line and then turning it over and having to go retrieve it deep in their own end and start over.

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That wastes time and energy, and it’s something the Flames are trying to fix.