Islanders Sporting NHL’s Worst Power Play; Something Has To Change

CHICAGO — The NHL’s worst-ranked power play continued to get worse after the New York Islanders went 0-4 in their 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

The team’s conversion rate sits at a flimsy 12.2%, 0.8% lower than the next team, the Boston Bruins. For more context, the Winnipeg Jets sit at the top of the league with a percentage of 30.3%.

The Jets have scored 30 power-play goals on 99 attempts so far this season. The Islanders have scored just 11 on 90 attempts.

This is Islanders assistant coach John Maclean’s third year running the power play, and his numbers have not been that great.

In his first year with the team, they were ranked 30th out of 32, with 15.8%, and only 0.2% away from being dead last. The year before, with Barry Trotz as the head coach, the team had the 12th-best power play.

Last season the numbers were better. While still not in the top half, the Islanders scored 20.4% of their power play opportunities, good enough for 19th in the NHL.

They have scored more than one power play goal just once this season, last Sunday when they went 2-2 against the Ottawa Senators in a 4-2 victory.

The Islanders have been in 13 one-goal games this season, winning six and losing 10 of them, with seven being in overtime.

When they score one power-play goal, they are 8-3-0.

If the team had a league-average power play of around 20%, they could be comfortably in a playoff spot. They currently sit one spot out of the second wild card position.

Not all of the power-play struggles sit on MacLean’s shoulders, as these players on the man-advantage units have enough talent to make an impact.

Collectively, they aren’t, and something has to give because if the Islanders do miss the playoffs, you can look no further than the power play as the No. 1 reason why, with the penalty kill not far behind.