The Flyers’ Power Play Has All But Dictated The Fate Of Their Playoff Run

It’s no secret the Flyers Power Play has been struggling mightily, so predictability should go out the window. The Flyers Power Play or Power Outage is one major reason the Flyers are on the brink of elimination tomorrow (Down 3-1 in the series).

Semyon Varlamov and Thomas Greiss are solid Goaltenders. Varlamov in particular has been good this series. One major problem for the Flyers in this series with the man advantage are clean zone entries, and this has forced the Flyers into a dump and chase type system at times. They try to dump and chase at times, as they do not want to be predictable with the man advantage. Moreover, the Flyers are simply losing the puck battles forechecking wise, thus enabling the Islanders 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, or even Sean Couturier.

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 4 against the Isles 4-43 with the man advantage in the playoffs, and 0-5 for the series against the Isles (Now they are 0-6 with the man advantage). This is simply not good enough, and it is an area of concern as this team is on the brink of elimination because of such. 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 following a victory against the Montreal Canadiens, “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 you would think 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 set plays along the wall, and behind the net. The Islanders 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, 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, Ghost should be given a shot tomorrow night to see what the future could hold for Ghost in a Flyers sweater.

I am not a coach, nor do I preach to be one, but the Flyers have allowed their struggling Power Play to become one of the main focuses of their struggles in the playoffs. The Power Play has all but dictated the fate of their playoff run, and changes should be made in this area next season.