After years of postseason struggles, Carolina’s man advantage is surging behind a simplified approach and net-front presence, providing the Hurricanes a timely offensive spark during the Stanley Cup Final.
Heading into the Stanley Cup Final, there was a lot of noise about the Carolina Hurricanes' postseason power play struggles.
Through three rounds, the Hurricanes had scored just seven goals on 56 opportunities (12.5%), despite entering the playoffs with the fourth best man advantage rate.
And after a one-goal Game 1 loss, which saw Carolina's power play fail to convert twice, the noise got even louder.
But since then, the Hurricanes' power play has looked unstoppable.
The power play is clicking at around 36% for the series, and the team has scored four (really, five) goals on the last seven opportunities.
"It's execution," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Everybody's trying to do similar things, it's just that guys made plays."
So what's different now?
For one, the team is taking a much more direct approach on the man advantage.
"The coaches have done a good job of giving us video and some adjustments," said Logan Stankoven. "I think each series has been a bit different and it does take a game to make an adjustment or two and you're kind of facing a different kind of penalty kill system. I think we've adjusted well so far. Special teams is key this time of year."
"I think it's just about simplifying," said top power play quarterback Shayne Gostisbehere. "We're starting to take a little bit of what they're giving us and simplifying. You can see on a lot of our goals, it's just shots to the net and the big man [Jordan Staal] has been in front putting them away. If they're gonna keep giving it to us, we're gonna keep taking it."
Gostisbehere has been a big driving force on the power play's resurgence, with three of the goals coming directly off of his stick.
He's done a good job of finding the lanes in front through traffic, with Jordan Staal cleaning up in front twice, but he's also been able to vary it as well, like when he faked the point shot to set up Seth Jarvis for the Game 2 overtime winner.
And when you look at the other two goals, you have Staal driving the net and Andrei Svechnikov cleaning up a rebound and Taylor Hall going hard to the net and then dishing it across to a wide-open Jackson Blake.
"I think it's a thing were simplification it is better than complication," Gostisbehere said. "We're not gonna be running plays. We're just gonna be waiting for the open guy and get pucks to the net with traffic."
"I've been telling the guys to get to the hoop for, I don't know how long, years," Staal said. "Good things happen around there. Especially with the way they play, there's opportunity to get there and you just need a bounce."
The guys on the power play have also credited Brind'Amour with helping to reset their mental and get them all on the same page with the power play and how crucial it's going to be for this series.
"Roddy gave us a little kick in the butt there, for sure," Gostisbehere said. "Sometimes these things can be the difference maker and I think it clicked for a few of us. We haven't had to rely on it, thankfully, for the first three rounds, but in a series this tight, you might have to."
For years, the power play has been one of the things that have held the Hurricanes back in the postseason, so getting the man advantage on track is a huge boost and one that can be the difference between winning or losing a championship.
"That's what we've needed throughout these seven years or however long we've been playing," said Andrei Svechnikov. "It's kind of what we've always struggled with in the playoffs, but hopefully it's gonna stay this way."
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