Penguins New Look Power Play Takes Step in Right Direction
The Pittsburgh Penguins power play still needs to find success, but the Jeff Petry swap should be beneficial.
The power play has been one of the most talked about topics surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins through the first quarter of the 2022-23 season, and not for a good reason.
In 67 opportunities with an extra attacker, the Penguins have scored only 12 times; the 17.91 conversion rate is far below the league average.
With a struggling first group, head coach Mike Sullivan made a change to try and promote simplicity and pucks on net.
Jeff Petry was bumped to the first unit to play alongside Kris Letang on the blue line, giving the Penguins a rare two defender look.
Bryan Rust was the odd man out and moved to the second power play line as a fourth forward.
While the new formation didn’t get much playing time in their first game together, Sullivan liked what he saw.
“We only had one full power play,” Sullivan said. “I thought we did a real good job just as far as shooting the puck and getting pucks down to the net.”
With one full two-minute advantage and an abbreviated chance, the Penguins power play generated five shots on goal.
They were all stopped and the groups failed to score a power play goal, progress looked to be made.
The Penguins have been working on just playing an easier game with the man advantage and quite simply shooting the puck more often.
Far too often, the Penguins lost chances because they kept looking to pass the puck into the net.
Now, with a Petry moved up top, there should be more shooting opportunities opening up.
“We haven’t had an opportunity to get a lot of reps,” Sullivan said. “I thought that particular power play, they had some pretty good looks. And it started with just establishing a shot.”
The Penguins will continue to work on simplifying their game on the power play and their skill should do the rest.
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