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Columbus’ power play is just awful

ToddRichardsBench

I did one of these last week in the wake of Anaheim’s terrible man advantage -- at the time, the Ducks had just two goals on their last 48 PP opportunities -- and guess what? Since then, the Ducks been on fire! OK, maybe a slight exaggeration, but they have scored power play goals in consecutive games, and are 2-for-5 overall.

/throws out shoulder patting self on back

In light of that, I figured I should help out the Blue Jackets because their power play could really use some assistance -- it’s gone 0-for-36 over the last 11 games.

Yeah. Zero for thirty-six.

“You can’t just sweep it under the rug. We have to talk about it and work at it,” head coach Todd Richards explained, per the Columbus Dispatch. “Some of this is about controlling emotions and not letting the lack of success affect us.

“If it affects you on the first one, it affects you even more on the second and third.”

Or, the 36th.

In the wake of the slump, Columbus’ power play has dropped to 18th in the NHL -- 16.8 percent overall -- and the fact they’re still 18th suggests the Jackets have the capability to score a man up. They were clicking pretty well on the power play in the 10 games prior to the slump, going 9-for-37 (a 24 percent clip) and have gotten solid production this season from the likes of James Wisniewski (tied for ninth among NHL d-men in power play points, with 20) and R.J. Umberger (who has the same number of power play goals, eight, as Phil Kessel and Patrick Sharp.)

Columbus needs to turn this slide around, and fast. It has a huge game tonight against fellow Eastern Conference wild card contender Detroit, and knows that a successful power play is key to earning valuable points down the stretch.

“After each game it starts to build frustration if you don’t score,” Jack Johnson told the Dispatch. “It’s so hard to score at even strength, especially this time of year, that if you don’t have success on the power play, you really put yourself behind the eight ball.”