By Andrew Allsman| Posted: May 6, 2013| Contact |
The Blues’ power play went from good to bad very quickly in
the regular season. To this point, it hasn’t returned to being a threat, and it
has hurt the Blues.
To put the Blues’ suffering power play in perspective, The
Pittsburgh Penguins, who have the best power play in the playoffs, have six
power play goals, while having the same number of opportunities as the Blues.
The Penguins, like the Blues, are up 2-1 in their series against the New York
Islanders, but the Penguins are unlike the Blues in regards to offense. The
Blues have just four goals thus far in the playoffs, while the Penguins have
13. That means that 46 percent of the Penguins’ goals have come on the power
play. The Blues would be up 3-0 in the series, and would not be having to worry
about close games if their power play was clicking.
The Blues have a wealth of skilled forwards that play the
power play, but the ability to finish is lacking. It’s not as though the Blues
are lacking opportunities, they are just lacking when it comes to converting.
That being said, the team is not in desperate need of radical change.
In their first three games, the Blues have done a fine job
of keeping puck in the zone, and applying pressure, and Game Three was perhaps
their best showing yet. However, they aren’t burying the easy chances, and it
is costing them. They aren’t about to give up, though.
“I just told the players to stick with it,” said Blues head coach
Ken Hitchcock. “You can’t get discouraged because you missed opportunities
because it affects you down the line. We had players apologizing to other
players about missing. We don’t need that. Just keep going.”
“When you miss (the no-brainers) it discourages you. We
talked, after the game, about the three chances where the goalie wasn’t in the
net that we missed. That comes back to haunt you.”
One glorious chance from Saturday’s Game Three comes to mind
when thinking about missed opportunities. The Blues, looking to tie the game,
were on the power play in the second period, when a nice feed found Alex Steen
alone near the side of the net. Jonathan Quick was out of the play and Steen
fired the puck high. It was perhaps the Blues best chance of the night, but it
was another one of those unlucky plays that are haunting the Blues. Burying a
few of those would certainly lift the Blues’ spirits.
When asked what he thought needed to be done about the power
play, T.J. Oshie didn’t think a change was necessary. He just thinks the team
needs to do what they are doing, but do it with more efficiency.
“Just keep shooting. We have to get to the net and firing
pucks on net,” he said. “The more pucks we shoot the better chance we have of
scoring. We just can’t frustrated, can’t get down on ourselves, we just have to
keep shooting the puck and getting guys to the net.”
Another problem the Blues are having is getting the pucks
through to Jonathan Quick, even with the extra man. The Blues have only 14
power play shots in three games, while some of the top man-advantage units have
over 20.
It’s not rocket science. The players know what they have to
do, that is apparent. The game plan is there but the execution is not.
Hitchcock has seen some things that can improve, but he stressed that they were
some minor tweaks. The majority of improvements must come from the players
doing what they have been, but finding ways to convert. It’s a strenuous task
when it nothing is happening, but the Blues are hoping to turn their power play
into a momentum-gainer, rather than just another two minutes of hockey.
“I think there are little tweaks that we can help them
with,” said Hitchcock. “But at the end of the day it is just keep going.”