Michel Therrien has been reluctant to go with what worked in the past on the Power Play, and the unit has struggled mightily for the second consecutive season. Predictability should go out the window, as it appears the unit has tuned out their coach at times from people observing the games, and fans for that matter. This one successful power play unit now sits 21st in the league with a success rate of 19.4%, which is well below the league average of 20.10%.
The orange and black have regressed with the man advantage from the prior season. Last season the Flyers had the 14th best ranked power play with a success rate of 20.80, with 47 goals scored. Therrien struggled early in the season finding consistency with this unit, but they seemed to find their niche the last few months before Covid-19 shut down the league. Moreover, they have tallied 30 goals scored this season, and the PP (Or power outage) is now 3-17 in the last six games. This includes recent games against the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers.
Therrien finally has put the old successful unit back together of Giroux (Left Side), Coots (Slot), Voracek (Right Side), to include JVR (Net Front), and Shayne Gostisbehere (Point) back together.
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 (298 PP points since September 2010). Giroux should not fluctuate from the right side to the left, just keep him on the left side.
Unfortunately, the personnel unit has shifted many times throughout the course of the season, and nothing has worked. The Flyers are just inconsistent with cycling the puck, and passing up the open shot. Some players appear to be clutching their sticks, thus forcing the extra pass, and it has lead to odd man rushes the other way on Carter Hart or Brian Elliott. Time and time again, these goalies have been forced to make great saves with the man advantage.
They need to keep the play simple. Just blast away from the point, and that’s where Ghost comes in. Ghost has tallied 26 goals, and registered 79 assists with the man advantage throughout his career. Let him blast the puck from the point while James van Riemsdyk or Sean Couturier can tip the puck home. For some reason, Therrien likes to use Ivan Provorov as the top quarter back on the power play, unfortunately he is not ready for this role yet.
“Yeah, when the pucks not going in, obviously you get frustrated and you’re going to try to change a little bit and try to do something to put the puck in the net, the whole team right now there’s a lot of frustration,” Claude Giroux said following the game this past Saturday.
I am not a coach, nor do I preach to be one, but how much longer does Therrien stay employed with this club. If the Flyers had a power play that was in the middle of the pack, maybe just maybe they would be in a playoff spot at the moment. Every point matters, especially in a shortened season. The Flyers struggling power play dictated the fate of their season, and now the top brass, coaches, and players alike are scratching their heads waiting for the next move in the offseason.
The Penalty Kill was equally atrocious. No surprise given the players on it.