This article is part of our The Man Advantage series.
Happy 2016 everyone, and welcome to the latest edition of The Man Advantage. This week we look at a few of the hottest power-play teams over the last two weeks, and identify those players who are making the biggest contributions.
1. Colorado Avalanche
Not sure what the Avs were putting in their eggnog over the Holidays, but order me a case of whatever they were having. Two weeks ago, the team's power-play attack was ranked a lowly 20th in the league, posting a mediocre 17.6 percent success rate. Fast forward two weeks, and the Avs have jumped an amazing 15 spots to fifth overall (21.8 percent). And just how did they pull that off? Merely by going 11-for-28 over that two-week period. That's just shy of a 40 percent hit rate. Wow. We all knew the Avs were loaded with firepower, but that's just ridiculous. So who's been driving all this recent success? On the one hand, you have the usual suspects, including Jarome Iginla (3G, 1A), Nathan MacKinnon (2G, 2A) and Tyson Barrie (2G, 3A). However, a couple of new faces have joined the Avs' PP party recently – have a look at Carl Soderberg (2G, 3A) and Blake Comeau (1G, 3A), both of whom are averaging about a minute more in PP ice time right now compared to their season averages, and taking advantage of the extra minutes. At the same time, keep an eye on Gabriel Landeskog (0G, 1A) and Matt Duchene (1G, 1A) who have been
Happy 2016 everyone, and welcome to the latest edition of The Man Advantage. This week we look at a few of the hottest power-play teams over the last two weeks, and identify those players who are making the biggest contributions.
1. Colorado Avalanche
Not sure what the Avs were putting in their eggnog over the Holidays, but order me a case of whatever they were having. Two weeks ago, the team's power-play attack was ranked a lowly 20th in the league, posting a mediocre 17.6 percent success rate. Fast forward two weeks, and the Avs have jumped an amazing 15 spots to fifth overall (21.8 percent). And just how did they pull that off? Merely by going 11-for-28 over that two-week period. That's just shy of a 40 percent hit rate. Wow. We all knew the Avs were loaded with firepower, but that's just ridiculous. So who's been driving all this recent success? On the one hand, you have the usual suspects, including Jarome Iginla (3G, 1A), Nathan MacKinnon (2G, 2A) and Tyson Barrie (2G, 3A). However, a couple of new faces have joined the Avs' PP party recently – have a look at Carl Soderberg (2G, 3A) and Blake Comeau (1G, 3A), both of whom are averaging about a minute more in PP ice time right now compared to their season averages, and taking advantage of the extra minutes. At the same time, keep an eye on Gabriel Landeskog (0G, 1A) and Matt Duchene (1G, 1A) who have been relatively quiet compared to the rest of their linemates.
2. Anaheim Ducks
Sure, the Ducks got off to a horrendous start this season (1-7-2 in their first 10 games). But we all knew they were too good a team for that to continue, right? All the Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry owners here all held firm and didn't get sucked into selling low, right? Right?? Ahem. Anyway, moving on. The Ducks have certainly turned things around since October, and are above .500 for the first time this season (17-16-7, 6-2-2 in their last 10). The power play has certainly played a large role the last two weeks, as the team has gone 7-for-18 with the man advantage over that stretch, lifting them from 27th in the league (15.7 percent) to 16th (19.6 percent). The contributions have been spread quite evenly over the Ducks' lineup, with the aforementioned Getzlaf (2G, 1A) and Perry (1G, 1A) playing their parts, but we've also seen guys like Ryan Kesler (3G, 0A), Sami Vatanen (0G, 2A), Mike Santorelli (0G, 2A) and Kevin Bieksa (1G, 1A) also chipping in. Even Chris Stewart, stuck in a fourth line role (just 8-9 minutes per game currently, but still seeing 1-2 minutes on the PP) has contributed a pair of assists in the past few games.
3. Los Angeles Kings
Ranked just 23rd overall (17.0 percent) two weeks ago, the Kings' power play has made some serious strides since. With a 7-for-22 run under their belts (that's roughly a 32 percent success rate), the Kings have finally rediscovered their man-advantage magic. This is due in large part to their top dog, Anze Kopitar, who had just two PP points in his first 33 games, but who has since recorded four assists in his last seven. On the back end, Drew Doughty (2G, 1A) and Jake Muzzin (0G, 3A) continue to form one of the best blue line tandems in the league, while up front, the main goal scorers continue to be Dustin Brown on the first PP unit (2G, 0A) and Tyler Toffoli (2G, 0A) on the second. Meanwhile, as good a season as he's been having (29 points in 35 games), Jeff Carter has surprisingly not been much of a contributor on the PP this season (just five points all year, with just one assist in the past two months). At the same time, the once-fearsome Marian Gaborik has just two PP assists for the season.
4. Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pens have been a tough team to figure out this season. They looked really impressive early on, jumping out to a 10-5-0 record in their first 15 games -- despite the struggles of Sidney Crosby. Now that Sid's seeming found his game again, the team as a whole (5-7-3 in their last 15 games), have regressed. At any rate, you certainly can't pin the recent downturn on their power play, which is 7-for-21 (33.3 percent) over the last two weeks, allowing the Kings to jump 11 spots in the PP rankings, from 26th to 15th. Aside from Crosby (2G, 2A in last 7 games), almost all the damage on opposing goaltenders has been inflicted by three other players: Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang (each with 1G, 5A) and Patric Hornqvist (2G, 1A). Even Phil Kessel, who had such high expectations thrust upon him at the start of the season, has had trouble establishing any real chemistry with his new teammates. Now roughly halfway through the season, Kessel has just six PP points so far, and just a single goal in the past two weeks.
5. Arizona Coyotes
Wait, what? No, that's not a typo. Following their dismal 2014-15 season, the Desert Dogs have surprised everyone so far this year, sitting in second place in the Pacific Division with a 20-16-4 record, and 6-2-2 in their last 10 games. What's been behind this recent surge? Well, goaltending, first of all. Rookie Louis Domingue (5-2-2, 2.31 GAA, .930 SV%, one shutout) has been excellent in place of injured starter Mike Smith. But it's been the power play that has really been firing on all cylinders the past two weeks, going 9-for-30 (30.0 percent) over that span. This has allowed the team to jump from second-last in the PP rankings as of two weeks ago (28th) to 23rd. Ever since the departure of Keith Yandle, the Coyotes have not been left with too many PP superstars, but the tide has slowly been turning for the better this season. Blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson (1G, 3A in last seven games) continues to step in to the void left by Yandle as the team's PP quarterback. Antoine Vermette (1G, 3A) has been a steady source of PP production recently, along with Mikkel Boedker (0G, 6A) and the ever-reliable Shane Doan (3G, 0A). In terms of fresh faces, winger Tobias Rieder (0G, 3A) is now skating on the top PP unit along with Doan, Boedker, Ekman-Larsson and Martin Hanzal.
