Buried in the game report from Anaheim’s 3-2 loss to Washington last night was this startling statistic:
The Ducks paid the price for an 0-for-6 night on the power play. They are 2-for-48 since Jan. 30.
That’s a shocking 4.2 percent success rate since the end of January. I’ve seen milks with higher percentages. And while that stat only goes back to Jan. 30, it’s clear this issue has run the course of the season; Anaheim has 38 total power play goals on the year, but 12 of them came during a wild six-game stretch in early January in which the Ducks went a perfect 3-for-3 against Boston, then set a club record by scoring six PPG in a 9-1 drubbing of Vancouver.
What makes Anaheim’s futility all the more remarkable is that it remains one of the NHL’s most potent offensive teams. The Ducks rank fourth in the NHL in goals per game (3.2), are on the verge of having two 30-goal scorers (Corey Perry has 36; Ryan Getzlaf has 29) and have 11 players with at least 20 points this season.
The fact the Ducks can’t score on the power play makes zero sense, and it’s definitely disconcerting. Following the loss to Washington, head coach Bruce Boudreau acknowledged the futile PP was a major issue.
“I’m disappointed in our specialty teams. It’s been our Achilles’ heel all year,” he explained, per the L.A. Times. “It’s something that we’ve got 13 games to correct, or we’re going to be in trouble.”
Boudreau is speaking from experience. In last year’s opening-round playoff loss to Detroit, the Ducks jumped out to a 2-1 series lead on the strength of its power play, going 5-for-15 over the first three games.
But when the man advantage stopped clicking, the Ducks started to struggle.
Anaheim proceeded to score just two more PPGs in 10 opportunities over the final four games, and Detroit won three of the four.