It’s usually hard to complain about a power play that ranks third in the NHL, but there’s reason for worry in Vancouver.
Consider:
---- The Canucks have scored just once with the man advantage in their last seven games.
---- They’ve scored just eight times with the man advantage in their last 24 games.
---- They haven’t scored more than one PP goal in a single game in almost two months.
---- They just traded away Cody Hodgson, the key cog on the second unit.
Opponents also know they have to stay out of the box against the Canucks, and for the most part they’ve been doing just that.
Add the widespread belief that referees have become more tolerant of hooking, holding and other forms of obstruction, and it becomes doubly important for the Canucks to take advantage of the opportunities they get.
“We’ve tried to simplify things, get a lot of shots,” Daniel Sedin said, as per The Province. “That’s always been key to our power play, get the first shot on net and then things open up.”