The Los Angeles Kings power play has come alive, as the 25th-ranked unit has scored three goals in the last three games.
This success has coincided with a deployment change on the top unit, as Tanner Pearson has moved up to take the Net Man role. LA is using four forwards (Pearson, Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, and Tyler Toffoli) and one defenseman (Drew Doughty), which looks like this:
View post on imgur.com
This change may solve a problem which has plagued the Kings' power play all season: How do you staff two power play units with three trustworthy offensive blueliners? After Doughty, Jake Muzzin, and Alec Martinez, we've seen Tom Gilbert and Kevin Gravel audition on the second power play group. They've even tried rotating just Doughty, Muzzin, and Martinez on the backend, resulting in the Norris Trophy incumbent handling 5:29 of six 5v4 minutes against Chicago recently.
Going four forwards/one defenseman has freed up Muzzin and Martinez to partner exclusively with the second unit, which is rounded out by Dustin Brown in front of the net, along with Nic Dowd and recently-returned Marian Gaborik.
Besides deployment issues, Los Angeles has also had trouble generating high-quality looks on the man advantage this year. This, despite their league-leading 119.60 Corsi For/60 rate on the power play, which has resulted in just a 26th-ranked 15.63 High-Danger Corsi For/60. Essentially, they're attempting a ton of shots a man up, but not many of them are coming from the slot or low slot.
For possession giant LA, of course, blasting away is no surprise, even on the PP. “We’ve got a shooting mentality power play," noted Pearson
to LA Kings Insider in November. And indeed, last season, their eighth-ranked unit was second in the league with a 114.42 Corsi For/60 rate.
The difference, however, is that last year, the Los Angeles man advantage registered a 10th-ranked 19.89 High-Danger Corsi For/60, compared to 15.63. If that doesn't sound much of a gap, consider that extrapolated over a full season, this would mean roughly 27 less high-danger power play scoring chances. Those are a lot of lost opportunities to swing close games.
"We can improve on our net presence and our quality of shots," acknowledged Doughty a month ago. "Not just throwing them from the blue line every time but trying to get in the dirty areas and getting a rebound shot.”
It remains to be seen if four forwards/one defenseman is the key to reviving the Kings power play. Despite their recent success, they haven't necessarily increased their scoring chance rate, so positive regression may be more in play. But I applaud the change -- including the current second unit, these are the team's ten most-skilled skaters who are being put in a position to succeed.
My one suggestion is to switch Pearson and Gaborik. Nothing against the 24-year-old -- he helped take away Carey Price's eyes on Carter's man advantage strike last Sunday -- but the veteran and his golden hands are a proven net-front presence a man up:
View post on imgur.com
Just two years ago, Gaborik led the team with 11 power play markers. An underrated cause for his goalscoring decline last season was his demotion from the top power play unit and subsequent loss of ice time to the admittedly deserving Toffoli. He was also forced from the Net Man role by Milan Lucic on the second group.
Four forwards/one defenseman can restore the 34-year-old to the frontline, where I believe he still belongs.
Stats as of 12/5/16, courtesy of Behind the Net, Corsica, Hockey Analysis, Hockey Reference, Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Puckalytics, and Sporting Charts.
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