After a very poor start to the season, it’s finally starting to feel like the Calgary Flames are finally trending in the right direction. Despite the loss to the Nashville Predators, the team has started to look far more alive with their top players finally starting to show up on a nightly basis. The one area of their game that continues to be an issue is their power play. Before Jonathan Huberdeau scored a goal against Seattle, the team had gone 17 straight man-advantages without a goal over the course of six games. They then failed to score in their last game against the Predators on any of their four chances, pushing their percentage further down to just one power play goal in eight games.
The numbers look bad and the eye test somehow looks worse. The team simply has no ability to break into the offensive zone with speed and when they do, they are unable to get the play set up nor to create prime scoring opportunities. Let’s break it down.
Flames zone entries tactics on the power play
The Flames employ two different zone entry styles for their two power play units. The first unit nearly always attempts a controlled zone entry with a drop-pass to the trailing player to change the angle of attack. There are many who roll their eyes every time the Flames employ this tactic, having run this play since the time of Johnny Gaudreau. It can be very effective in breaking up defensive blocks and forcing opponents to re-adjust on the fly. However, this strategy works far better when the Flames don’t go to it every single time. It has become so predictable that teams just line up at the blueline and have one guy in the neutral zone to force the play. This penalty killer doesn’t even touch the puck carrier in the neutral zone, instead waiting for the drop pass.
When it does invariably come, this player forces the puck carrier out of position then the players on the blueline hold their line. Without a creative or speedy puck carrier, opponents can predict where they will move and can stand their ground to stop that player from entering the zone. The Flames have been employing Jonathan Huberdeau in this role typically, and unless he can finesse his way past the defender, the puck is going back the other way.
Take a look at this sequence of what has been going wrong:
The Flames drop it back then pass it over to Huberdeau, who skates along the boards to the blueline. He is then stripped of the puck as he attempts a zone entry, the Preds pick up the puck, and three passes later, they take a 1–0 lead. Watch the two Preds’ defenders, the one on the right slides over to attack Huberdeau, and the other slides in behind just in case Huberdeau sneaks through because they know that the Flames won’t attempt any other play at that point.
The Flames’ second unit uses almost exclusively a dump-and-chase, putting the puck in deep and pushing to collect it before their opponent. This strategy has been reasonably successful as it forces the defence to turn around and skate to the puck while the offensive player already has a stride and forward momentum in the direction of the puck that they put in.
The problem with the second unit is that they haven’t gelled together as a unit, employing a new unit nearly nightly with some combination of Mikael Backlund, Andrew Mangiapane, Blake Coleman, Dillon Dube, Adam Ruzicka, Yegor Sharangovich, MacKenzie Weegar, and Noah Hanifin at various times. Throw in the fact that they play usually 45–50 seconds at the end of the power play, they really don’t have the opportunity to get set up before the power play ends.
In zone power play tactics
Now the Flames do have times when their plays do work, particularly when their opponents push forward into the Flames’ defensive zone. When there are fewer players defending the rush, the Flames have an easier time exploiting the space and getting set up. The challenge that the Flames face is that their passing is simply not fast enough to create opportunities.
Power plays are all about trying to move defenders out of position to create shooting lanes. If the defenders maintain a tight box around the net, the offensive players have to rely on a low-percentage shot from the outside, a tip in front, or a rebound to score. The best power plays are able to move the puck quickly, forcing defenders to adjust rapidly on the fly, zip the puck from tape to tape, and create quick opportunities as the defenders and goalies adjust.
The Flames simply cannot or will not do that. Their passing has been remarkably slow, not forcing the defence to move much. As a result, the Flames are stuck playing pass along the outside of the offensive zone and trying to take shots from the outside. And while they do occasionally get lucky—like this Jonathan Huberdeau goal below—this is not really a long-term recipe for success.
Faster passing is a skill that requires passes to be made perfectly from tape to tape every time, but they also need lots of off-puck movement from their power play skaters. When their forwards are stationary around the offensive zone, the defence doesn’t have to move very much. But when the forwards can move more throughout the setup, it forces the defenders to choose between staying in their zone, if they are running a zone defence model, or skating to where their mark is in a man-mark system. Even on the goal above, the Flames’ forwards barely moved and it took a seeing-eye shot from Huberdeau to put the Flames ahead.
If the Flames don’t move, they rely on shots from outside, and that has been their M.O. this season. This chart from HockeyViz illustrates where the Flames have been shooting this season on the power play:
They are broadly getting shots from three spots: both sides of the point and the inside left side by the net. They are opening up chances right in front, but the entire slot area is a dead zone for the Flames’ power play and they simply are not getting chances. Their xGF/60 of 7.07 sitting at -4% below league average is really not very good. You want to see that being a positive number on the power play.
The Flames are relying on their defencemen on the power play to shoot from distance and then for their forwards in front to pick up a rebound or tip the puck. This is unsustainable and is a large reason they aren’t converting.
Every Flame needs to be involved in the power play
The best power plays in the league move quickly but do so in a structured way. The Tampa Bay Lightning power play is a clear example of how to optimize a power play. The team uses a combination of players who can shoot and pass effectively, making every option on the power play a threat that the opponents need to counter. They also pass extremely effectively, with left shot forwards on the left and right shot forwards on the right. This means that players don’t have to control the puck on their backhand then flip it to the forehand before making a pass.
Finally, they employ triangles in their power play setup. This means that the puck carrier has two options at any given time plus the option to shoot. Because of the numerical advantage, the defenders are unlikely to cover both, giving the puck carrier options and an advantage in how he plays. They also use triangles between the player in the front of the net, the bumper, and along the wall, switching between the two wall players depending on where the puck is. This boxes the defender between the three, forcing him to make a choice as to how he wants to play it. This is an impossible choice, because when the play is run correctly, he picks one pass option, and the puck carrier goes the other way with a golden chance right in front of the net.
This only works when the Flames are able to move and make all of their forwards legitimate threats on the power play. Having Nazem Kadri and Elias Lindholm in the middle on the bumper and net front is fine, but when they are completely swamped and not moving, they are not real options for passes. This leaves the Flames with three real options, their two flank players and the point player, and then it becomes a 3v4 movement, which is not an advantage but a disadvantage. The clip above shows exactly how Lindholm and Kadri are buried, forcing Huberdeau to shoot.
Here is how the Flames can be better on the power play
Employing these three tactics will be a huge advantage for the Flames. They need to change up their zone entry strategy, or at the very least be open to trying new ways to enter the zone aside from the drop pass. Whether that is a dump-and-chase, a bank pass, a one-two play at the blueline, or something else, they need to force opponents to think that they have options for zone entries.
They then need to move the puck faster and better, moving their feet when they don’t have the puck to drag opponents out of position. Using players in the right spots, and creating a dual threat for each player to shoot or pass will make the Flames’ power play even more dangerous.
Finally, employing triangles on the power play in terms of how they pass will help make the Flames’ power play better. They cannot simply be swinging the puck around the perimeter and from point to point and expect to be successful. The Flames don’t have a talent issue, they should be able to put out five forwards on their top unit that can score and pass at a very high level. The problem has been using those players effectively and creating plays that they can execute on the ice to score more often.
Running the seventh-worst power play in the league is not going to take them to the playoffs. Even if this team does not have playoff ambitions, being this bad on the power play is not going to bring fans to watch this team. The Flames desperately need to be better on the man-advantage.
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