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The Five Forward Power Play |
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The last couple of games we have seen the Oilers deploy a 5 forward Power Play unit that has looked extremely dangerous together. Not all that long ago we had seen some questionable PP configurations culminating in some 5v3 opportunities that had Yakupov on the bench and Perron manning a point. Perron does like to shoot from anywhere but he shines near the net or, more specifically, near the goalie. The coach has publicly stated that he and his staff watched some video of what other teams were doing and they made some adjustments. What they came up with is working brilliantly right now.
The biggest difference in the PP right now is just how fluid the players are moving from the wall into the point and back down to the front of the net. Previously the positions were all but set and the Power Play was rigid. Skaters got to their mark and barely moved at all. The Penalty Killers barely needed to move at all and goals were created with perfectly placed shots/passes. Now, the fluid motion of the skaters is creating chaos and breakdowns by the defending team and the high quality chances are coming because of it.
Here is Edmonton’s first goal, on the man-advantage, using the 5 forward group.
Bask in its glory for a moment, then let’s go over this play.
The forwards are deployed as such, Nail Yakupov is on the Right Point and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is on the left. Taylor Hall has a spot along the left sidewall but he will slide up and down as needed. David Perron is at his rightful spot in front of the Net channeling his inner Ryan Smyth. Eberle is down in the left corner.
As mentioned before, the name of the game is “Constant Motion” and a level of fluidity that just wasn’t there before. When the video begins the first thing we see is that Eberle, whose position is traditionally in the corner, is up high covering the Left Point because Yakupov has slid down the right wall and RNH is now at the Right Point. Yak gets it to Nuge who very quickly gets it to Eberle at the high left. Eberle immediately starts walking in towards the net. You’ll notice that as he does that Yakupov inches higher up to stay open for a pass and as soon as Eberle commits the other direction Nail returns to the point position.
Florida’s penalty killers stay tight to the inside and Eberle dishes left to the corner for Taylor Hall. Now instead of returning up high where this sequence began, Jordan Eberle continues his path down low. He receives the pass from Hall uncontested as Mottau had gone out to pressure Hall, leaving 14 open. Eberle gives the puck back to his roommate who promptly moves higher up the wall all the way to the tops of the circles. The position change confuses the Penalty Killers as Mottau had tracked Hall but left Eberle alone at the side of the net. Neither of the two PK forwards attempted to pressure Hall either but the tight coverage meant that they couldn’t cover the points very closely as well.
Once at the top of the circle Hall calmly moves the puck to RNH who sends a wrister towards the net, between the two PK forwards. Perron has positioned himself directly in front of Thomas screening him very well. Nuge’s shot (pass? He’s so good it’s hard to tell) comes directly to the side of the net where Eberle has been left completely unchecked. It appears to hit him and redirect into the net, but Eberle taps it in out of mid-air just to be sure.
The Power Play utilizes the strengths of these players very well and puts a high degree of emphasis on constant motion. The only player who stayed in relatively the same spot was Perron who did a fantastic job screening the netminder. Eberle moved down from the blueline to behind the net, Hall shifted up from the corner to the tops of the circles, Yak moved from the point to the wall and back, RNH shifted across the blueline.
The Oilers have the horses to run a deployment like this and be dangerous from everywhere. It’s something that I look forward to seeing develop. Hopefully they do not become too predictable together, because each individual part is capable of thriving in the roles they have been given.
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Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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