First Shift 🏒
Maybe the most impressive thing about the Stars’ power play is just how consistent it has been this season.
Yes, Dallas leads the league in power play goals scored at 69. And yes, the Lads in Victory Green are second in success rate at 28.5 percent. But Dallas has scored a man advantage goal in 46 of 80 games, and that’s one reason they sit third in the league right now at 48-20-12 (108 points).
“I think it’s been maybe the strongest part of our game all season,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “It’s won us a lot of hockey games.”
One of the most interesting comparisons to last season is the power play. Not only did Dallas change head coaches and bring in Gulutzan, who ran a very successful man advantage as an assistant coach in Edmonton, but it called up Neil Graham from the AHL and assigned him to oversee the power play.
Gulutzan said that his history as an assistant coach for the previous seven seasons leads him to trust his own assistants. Because of that, he gives Graham the credit for this year’s success.
“He’s done a great job of coming in here and finding what works,” Gulutzan said. “He hasn’t let it get stale, he’s adjusted and really stayed ahead of it.”
That hasn’t been easy. The Stars early in the season were missing Benn, Duchene and Seguin because of injuries. After the Olympic Break, they were without Roope Hintz and Rantanen for long stretches. Just recently, they lost quarterback Heiskanen.
But there they were Saturday scoring a power play goal to break a 0-0 tie in the third period of an eventual 2-0 win over the New York Rangers. That’s a great sign for the upcoming playoffs.
“You need it to come through at the right time,” said forward Robertson.
When you consider, the Stars ranked 17th in success rate last season at 22.0 percent and 10th in power play goals at 55, this year has already been a success. The hope is as Hintz and Heiskanen return, it can become even better.
Wyatt Johnston leads the NHL in power play goals with 26, and he has done a lot of his damage from the slot off quick passes and quick releases. But Robertson, who co-leads the team with 41 power play points (15 goals, 26 assists) said it really has been a team effort where players are adjusting their spots and keeping the opposition guessing.
“Our goals have come from different areas,” Robertson said. “I score from the flank, the slot, the right side, net front, and Johnny is the same way. Mikko is getting his looks and same with Dutchy, so we’re interchangeable, and that’s hard to play against. It’s hard to predict to where it’s going.”
And the hope is the team can continue to do that. While power plays can dry up in the playoffs, the Stars might have a formula that can score in even the tightest games.
“Throughout the whole season, we haven’t been stagnant. Guys are moving around and getting scoring chances,” Robertson said. “Last year, we were a good power play but maybe stuck in our positions a little bit. Now, we’re going out there and using our intuition.”
Gulutzan said the team is playing “pond hockey,” just with a pretty good idea of what they are doing.
“They’re good players, smart players, so we need to trust them to make good decisions,” he said.
