Poor power play a major hindrance for Arizona Coyotes

The concept is easy to understand.

One team has five players, the other has four. In theory, the former is expected to have a scoring advantage.

That has not been the case for the Arizona Coyotes as of late, as the team has failed to find the back of the net in its last 20 power play opportunities.

Not only have the Coyotes failed to score on the man-advantage lately, they have been outscored — giving up a short-handed goal that cost them at least one point in Tuesday’s 4-3 defeat at home to the Dallas Stars.

The unit started the season hot, picking up where they left off last season with the best power play in the Western Conference. Lately, the team appears to have returned to the putrid power plays of Coyotes past.

“In the last two or three games we’ve had glorious chances on the power play to score and we haven’t found ways to score,” Coyotes captain Shane Doan told Burns and Gambo Wednesday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Head coach Dave Tippett said he would consider shaking things up after Tuesday’s game and felt the same after Wednesday morning’s practice.

“Our power play is obviously a big part of our offense — we need it to click,” Tippett told Bickley and Marotta Wednesday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “(It’s) one thing to generate chances, another to score on those chances and another thing to not let it get you down when you don’t score.

The key to figuring out the problem is identifying whether the unit itself is unsuccessful as a whole, or just unlucky.

“For the most part, the structure of (our power play) is really sound — we just have to find ways to make it successful,” Tippett said. “Every power play goes through little stretches like this where the puck’s not going in the net, but we can’t have that as a demoralizer.

“We’ve got to keep pushing forward and keep that positive mindset going.”

Doan echoed that sentiment.

“It’s not that our power play is not doing its job, it’s (just) executing the last step,” Doan said. “It’s such a huge benefit to be out on the power play. You get an opportunity to get point and score goals and feel good about your game…we’re not doing it.”

The Coyotes rank 18th in the NHL in power play percentage, scoring on 18 percent of tries.

As an offensively-challenged team at even strength, the Coyotes rely on their power play to generate a large chunk of the team’s offense. If that unit continues to struggle, the Coyotes will too.

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