The St. Louis Blues finished the 2018-19 season ranked tenth in the league in power play percentage at 21.1%. That is shocking news to me as I recall Chris Kerber saying just hold onto the puck and kill time when the Blues were on a power play.
According to FoxSports, the St. Louis Blues allowed seven short-handed goals last season. That tied them for 11th in the league. Even more shocking is that the Boston Bruins allowed the most and were tied for 30th with the Pittsburgh Penguins!
Boston did convert on their opportunities 4.9% higher than the Blues. To match Boston, the Blues would have needed to get 15 goals in their next 14 tries to match Boston in total opportunities and goals for.
In those 14 attempts, I don’t see the St. Louis Blues giving up eight more short-handed goals as well. Perception is a reality until it is held up to the evidence. I would cringe every time we were awarded a power play.
It seemed to me the Blues would allow short-handed opportunities as a sign of good sportsmanship. Like the opposing team’s penalty killers paid for an all you can eat buffet of short-handed tries. Not only was it perceived that we had no power play, but it felt as though most of the opportunities on the man advantage we had, we were defending.
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I know I wasn’t the only one to see it this way. Kerber was adamantly saying that we should just not try to score and only play puck possession while on the man advantage as he saw us giving up all the chances I saw.
He saw the opposition’s penalty kill not only kill off our chances but make it look at times like we were the team short-handed. All that and we were in tenth for power play conversion!
Imagine what it was like for some of the other teams? Now in Boston, I highly doubt the perception was uh-oh here comes another short-handed goal. Seemed Boston would score on the power play at will. Imagine what it was like for LA fans or Anaheim fans where the power play converted far less, and the shorties allowed was nearly double that of the Blues?
This bit of stat mining has me very encouraged for the Blues power play this upcoming season! Why you may ask? Well, we hired Marc Savard as an assistant coach, and he will be directing the power play for one.
Savard was a solid offensive guy with his best seasons coming in his last year with Atlanta and then Boston where a series of concussions derailed his career.
Savard played 807 games where he collected 706pts. He was a power play guy and became a solid setup man in Boston. I’m optimistic that Savard at age 42 can really bring some creativity, cohesion, and grit to the Blues power play.
Let’s imagine for a second what the Blues power play would be like if we actually pressured the penalty kill? If we actually controlled the puck and did something other than pass it around the umbrella?
Savard, I believe, is going to bring the play more to the dots, below the goal line, and force the opposition to defend down low and really open up lanes for Colton Parayko and Vladimir Tarasenko.
The perception can’t get any worse than it was last year. The numbers could, though! We could give up more shorthanded goals than last year or we could convert less on more opportunities.
One thing I would be ok with is converting less, but actually controlling the puck and making the penalty killers work!
Force them to block shots! Make them move more than five feet to the left or right! Get a little grit to the power play and crash the net! Allow puck carriers to carry the puck! Put Robert Thomas on the power play and let him and Vince Dunn skate around moving the defenders. Let Parayko blast some shots like Al MacInnis back in the day!
Defenders won’t block that too many times, some never will. Most will partially screen the goalie and bail out before the puck hits them, making it harder on the goalie.
Stop playing the power play like it’s an easy opportunity for a goal and a time to take a rest on the ice. Too many times it seemed the Blues were just outworked on the man advantage.
My top power play would be as follows, Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly, Thomas, Dunn, and Parayko. The second unit is David Perron, Brayden Schenn, Jaden Schwartz, Alex Steen, and Alex Pietrangelo. W
hat does everyone else think? It’s easy to armchair coach a team. I just pray we don’t see another lackluster power play in 2019-20. It could be the catalyst that helps carry us to a repeat championship.
Statistically, the power play wasn’t as bad as it seemed. That leaves me hopeful and excited to see what Savard and the team can do for this season. With Savard in charge, I would expect to see some different units. Maybe the ones I suggested? In any event, although the stats can get worse, the perception and expectation is near an all-time low for most fans and the power play.