Someone Needs To Take Charge on Penguins Power Play
The Pittsburgh Penguins power play hasn't been good enough, but there may be a reason.
The Pittsburgh Penguins ended the 2022-23 season with a 21.72% success rate on the power play.
While head coach Mike Sullivan found some overall positives in the special teams game, 21.72% landed the Penguins 14th in the NHL.
A league average power play isn’t good enough for team who claims to be Stanley Cup contenders, and things needed to change for the better.
Over the offseason, new president and general manager Kyle Dubas brought in one of the best offensive defensemen of this generation and that was sure to bring a spark to the power play.
Despite the addition of Erik Karlsson, the Penguins power play has been abysmal to start the season.
Through seven games, between both units, only two power play goals have been scored and they came in the same game.
On the year, the Penguins have only scored on the man advantage in one game and is 2 for 18; 11.11% puts the Penguins in 29th in the NHL.
Heading into the season, the expectations for the Penguins power play was through the roof with a genuine possibility that it could finish top five.
That sort of finish is still possible, but they have to wake up quickly to make it work, according to Karlsson, someone needs to take charge and bring more of a push.
“I think that we have to maybe have a little more urgency,” Karlsson said. “Take matters into our own hands.”
The current iteration of the Penguins top power play unit consists of Karlsson, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, and Jake Guentzel.
Karlsson knows everyone is useful and can be successful, someone just needs to step up.
“We’re all capable of doing that,” Karlsson said. “We just need to take charge a little bit more.”
The belief for Karlsson is that someone will take charge and everyone will follow suit in finding a solid rhythm.
A lacking power play was a key reason the Penguins struggled last season, and is already playing a hand in the early season struggles in 2023-24.
The Penguins aren’t drawing as many penalties, but need to capitalize on any opportunity that they get; with three Hall of Famers in Karlsson, Crosby, and Malkin, a 40-goal scorer in Guentzel, and a red-hot start to the season for Rust, this system should be scoring basically at will.
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