Senators' Power Play Is Becoming a Serious Problem

The Ottawa Senators have a power-play problem, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Through 16 games, Ottawa has converted on just eight of its 65 opportunities with the man advantage, a dismal 12.3 per cent success rate that ranks third-last in the NHL.

Making matters worse, the Senators have surrendered four short-handed goals (2 are empty netters), leaving them with a net advantage of just four goals on 65 power-play opportunities.

On Sunday in Anaheim the Senators failed to score on all three power plays while Anaheim converted on all four of its 5 opportunities.

It proved costly

“If you took the special teams out, I’d be really happy with the game,” said Green on Sunday night when his team blew a five on three opportunity in the second period.

Early on this season, many of us believed Jake Sanderson’s absence due to injury was a major part of the explanation for a woeful power play. Well, the Senators were at 12 per cent without him, and are now 12 per cent with him.

Interestingly, according to Natural StatTrick, the Senators rank 13th in expected goals per 60 on the power play this season. The eye test would disagree.

The Senators have been too often stagnant under the tutelage of assistant coach Ben Sexton who’s running the power play unit this season. They’ve failed to execute on multiple five-on-threes and four-on-threes this season.

Comparatively, the power play ranked eighth in the NHL last season. However, the Senators are now missing Brady Tkachuk's presence and assistant coach Daniel Alfredsson, who ran the power play.

Tkachuk scored 62 power play tallies in Ottawa, using his big body and soft hands to be an excellent playmaker while deflecting shots at an elite level. The Senators’ problem is that they are missing a net front dominator as well as a left shot.

Of course, the point is not just to win games in the regular season; in the playoffs you need the power play to hum, not to be your achilles' heel.

Last year, in the first round versus Carolina, the Senators went one for 21; had they gone five or six for 21 they likely would have pushed Carolina to a sixth or seventh game and then who knows what could have happened. No Ottawa fan will forget Tkachuk’s awful pass on a five-on-three in that series.

This season, the Senators' power play has too often chased quality too much over quantity; they sit 22nd in shots per 60 on the power play this season.

Some of the issues have been personnel and clearly some have been execution.

On Monday’s episode of Coming In Hot, Jason York explained why the Senators need a left-handed shot on the unit: the Senators already have Drake Batherson a right-shot down low, and Dylan Cozens oscillating between the half wall and bumper.

You don’t have to squint too hard to rationalize how William Eklund returning to the lineup could augment the power play with his shot, elite vision and ability to create plays in tight areas. His power play assist against Detroit is a prime example of using his smarts, and skill to create an easy backdoor tap-in goal for Batherson.

Stephen Halliday has shown promise on the first unit, yet it hasn’t materialized into production. Until Eklund’s return from ankle surgery, the Senators could benefit from trying Ridly Greig as a net front pest. As well, the current healthy scratch, Carter Yakemchuk, could be a boon for the first unit if he is used in the Ovechkin spot on the power play, with his booming slapshot that is arguably the best on the team.

Interestingly, from a distance the power play’s struggles mirror the penalty kill from last year's campaign which hovered among the worst in the NHL up to January until Green made a change in strategy. He decided to take assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner off the penalty kill duties and replace him with Mike Yeo. It saved the Senators’ season, as the short-handed unit went from the worst to becoming one of the best in the league.

By no means are we suggesting a coaching change. Instead, what we are suggesting is significant changes to the power play scheme and personnel before it becomes too late and derails the season, as the penalty kill threatened to do last season.