Tampa Bay’s power play has been red hot lately, largely because head coach Jon Cooper has figured out the formula for success -- keep it simple, stupid, and reference a legendary WWF wrestler.
The return of Steven Stamkos and addition of Ryan Callahan has now made it more of a “junkyard dog power play,” according Cooper.
“You put a shooter [Stamkos] in there, then put a guy in there that is fearless in front of the net [Callahan] and it equates to power-play goals,” he said. “Honestly it’s that simple.”
Stamkos’ shot has led to four power-play goals over his past seven games.
“Everybody knows about his shot,” Valtteri Filppula said. “If he’s open, we’ll try to get the puck to him.”
The Bolts have scored power play goals in five straight games, going 8-for-24 overall with the man advantage during that stretch. It’s pushed the PP up to 16th overall (18.3 percent) in the NHL -- no small feat, considering the unit was awful in November (4-for-44) and December (5-for-41).
Stamkos has been great, as expected, but others have performed as well. Callahan’s net-front contributions are well documented; Ondrej Palat has five power play assists in his last five games, while Victor Hedman has a goal an assist with the man advantage in the last two contests.
Stamkos was especially complimentary of what the first two bring to the table.
“This year we have Callahan and Palat that are willing to get in there and get the puck back for us,” the Bolts captain explained. “That’s when you really wear teams down, when you get that second, third, fourth opportunity on the power play.
“I think that’s been our Achilles heel in the past.”