It’s no secret the Flyers Power Play is struggling mightily, so predictability should go out the window. The problem here in lies, just shoot the puck, keep it simple, and abandon the forecheck when entering Montreal’s zone.
Carey Price is one of the best Goaltenders in the World. He is very good with handling the puck, as he can clear the zone with the best of them. This has been one major problem for the Flyers in this series with the man advantage. They try to dump and chase at times, trying not be as predictable with the man advantage. This is enabling Price to clear the zone with ease. Just keep it simple and take the puck up the gut. Jakub Voracek is a force when the puck is on his stick. Ivan Provorov is just not as good with zone entries, give it to the player (Voracek) that has made a living throughout the course of his career burning by opponents while entering the offensive zone cleanly.
The Flyers cycle the puck well at times, but other times not so much. That is when the Power Play becomes predictable. Teams are sensing the extra pass, thus picking off the pass and clearing the puck out of the zone with no problem. The Flyers Power Play entered game 3 1-19 with the man advantage in the playoffs, following game 3 they are now 1-25 with the man advantage. This is simply not good enough, and it is an area of concern as this team hopefully endures an extended playoff run. As the playoffs wear on it becomes tougher to score goals, so they have to take advantage of these Golden opportunities to score.
It’s becoming a bit redundant asking the same old questions such as, what gives? What improvements need to be made? Will the Flyers change the personnel? “There’s no doubt that our power play needs to get better,” Head Coach Alain Vigneault said last night following the victory, “We got a day here to look at a couple of things there. It’s not from bad intentions. Give Montreal some credit. They did a great job killing those penalties tonight. We have to make a few adjustments. We’ll look to do that.”
The Flyers are focusing a lot of attention of the stagnant Power Play in practice, or Power Outage, if you will, so they are bound to break through here eventually. They are keeping most of the play on the perimeter. What I would like to see is more play along the wall, and behind the net. The Canadiens are collapsing towards the middle of the ice, as the Flyers like to use the Umbrella set up. In this case, predictability needs to go out the window, and let Giroux be Giroux. Let Kevin Hayes, and Travis Konecny earn their money in front of Price. If JvR remains in the lineup he should be on the PP to provide a net front presence.
Now Head Coach Alain Vigneault is tasked with does he sit Robert Hagg, and re-insert Shayne Gostisbehere in the lineup for game 4, solely because of his capabilities with the man advantage? This is a good problem to have, and Ghost, when healthy should be able to be a good quarterback of a struggling PP Unit. Moreover, Giroux should be a permanent fixture on the left side near the wall. That is where he has made a living on torching his opponents this past decade with the man advantage (316 PP points for his career). Giroux should not fluctuate from the right side to the left, just keep him on the left side.
The Flyers have to hit the net. Giroux had a great one timer, a blast in the first period, but missed the shot high and wide, thus allowing Montreal cleared the zone with ease. Ivan Provorov also missed the net a few times on multiple occasions. This might be the Price affect, with some Flyers players trying to pick the perfect shot. The Flyers have to keep their simple, take the puck up the ice, enter the zone cleanly, cycle the puck well, and hit the net. Price will give up a rebound once in a blue moon, but you have to hit the net in order for him to do so. I would actually fully endorse trying Travis Sanheim as the quarterback of the top PP Unit just to see how he does. Moreover, I would like the Flyers go back to a more traditional unit of 3 Forwards and 2 Defencemen, with the hopes of:
PP1: G, Coots, Voracek, Sanheim, Provy
PP2: TK, Hayes, JvR, Niskanen, Myers
I am not a coach, nor do I preach to be one, but the Flyers can ill afford to let their struggling power play dictate the fate of their hopeful extended playoff run. They need to reactivate the power surge of the PP, sooner rather than later.
