Isles' power-play woes continue as they rank last in NHL - Newsday
And, once again, for the millionth time this season, let us turn our attention to the Islanders’ power play.
Many words can be used to describe it. Almost none of them good.
There’s a chance that when this is all over, the power play will take on a new descriptor: Season-sinking. The Islanders remain last in the NHL at 21-for-175 (12.0%). That includes 2-for-27 (7.4%) over their last nine games.
The Islanders, who open a road back-to-back against the Lightning on Saturday afternoon before facing the Hurricanes 27 hours later, went 0-for-2 with just one shot on the power play in Wednesday night’s very disappointing 5-2 loss to the Canucks to conclude a four-game stand at UBS Arena. Being in a playoff spot was theirs with a victory.
And that doesn’t include the failed six-on-five at the end of regulation with backup goalie Marcus Hogberg, who replaced a shaky Ilya Sorokin at 1:05 of the third period, off for an extra skater that yielded an empty-net goal.
“I don’t think we did a good enough job creating chances maybe in the second and third [periods],” defenseman Adam Pelech said.
The Islanders’ five-on-five play also couldn’t produce a goal — their scores came shorthanded and skating four-on-four — but both of their power-play chances came in the third period trailing by two goals.
Here’s a telling statistic from Canadian broadcaster Sportsnet: The 2022-23 Islanders set a dubious NHL record of having scored the fewest power-play goals (25) while being able to qualify for the playoffs. That’s four more than these Islanders have. Can they score four power-play goals over their final 11 games?
The seasonlong trend would argue not.
Coach Patrick Roy has remained fairly steady with his power-play units, an exception being Monday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets when he inserted defenseman-turned-forward Adam Boqvist on the left half-wall for defenseman Ryan Pulock.
Against the Canucks, defenseman Tony DeAngelo quarterbacked one unit with defenseman Noah Dobson on the left half-wall, Bo Horvat in the middle, Simon Holmstrom on the other wall and Kyle Palmieri as the net-front presence.
recommended
The other unit consisted of defenseman Mike Reilly up top with Pulock, Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the bumper spot, Anthony Duclair on the opposite half-wall and Anders Lee at the crease.
The problems are the same for both units. Zone entries are not smooth. The puck stays to the exterior and rarely gets through to the net. There’s not enough traffic created in front. And, finally, opponents often easily clear the puck down ice.
Roy was asked if he’d consider personnel changes.
“I don’t know if it’s the time to change things as much as we think we could,” Roy said. “I think it’s a time where we just need to be better in our details. Like, example, better on our battles. Put it into the triangle, get that setup going. I feel like we just didn’t do a good job supporting each other in those moments.
“It’s a privilege to play on the power play. So don’t go there thinking it’s going to be easy. You’ve got to work harder.”
It sounds almost simple. Yet, if it was, this wouldn’t be the millionth time this subject has been analyzed this season.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
