Not So Special

by Jesse Liebman

Editorial. Photos by AP News

There are few things more exciting in hockey than to see an opposing player get called for a penalty and get sent to the box.

The fans get loud, and the offender is left sulking in the sin bin, praying that his team doesn’t screw up, like some smart-ass who knows he broke the rules and is trying to desperately cover his tracks. 

There’s no guarantee that having a man advantage for two minutes is going to yield a goal; the prospect is nevertheless tantalizing and gives the home crowd a testosterone-laden injection of confidence -- or if you're in Vancouver, it gives two dudes in bodysuits an opportunity to play their sick and twisted games.

Tell that to fans of the Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres. Apparently their teams didn’t get the memo that you actually have to score for your special teams to be effective.

In the east, there was no clearer indication that having a well-oiled power-play machine is absolutely critical to success in the playoffs. All three division champs saw their seasons slip away because they couldn’t generate any offense with the man advantage.

Need proof? Consider the following:

New Jersey entered the playoffs after having placed eleventh in the league on the power play, scoring 18.7 percent of the time. In their first round series against Brian Boucher and the Philadelphia Flyers, their success dropped to 12.5 percent. Ilya Kovalchuk scored the only power play marker for the Devils, as we saw Jacques Lemaire’s squad fold like origami and pack their bags for summer.

Next, there’s the Sabres. To be fair, Buffalo also lacked their key offensive weapon in Thomas Vanek through half of the series. But guess who tied for the team lead in goals on the power play during the regular season? Yep -- Vanek.

And then of course there’s "Alexander the L8" -- as in: late to the party. Evidently the Caps’ captain couldn’t handle the pressure, or the rest of Washington’s lineup, for that matter. It didn’t take until Game 4 for Ovechkin to get the first power play tally. That ended up being Washington’s only one of the entire series. 1-for-33. After that performance, if I were team owner Ted Leonsis, I’d probably tell Ovie to get his own goddamned chips. 

The prosecution rests.

So what’s the explanation? Nothing seems to add up, but I can offer up a theory: burnout. These teams spent so much time fighting and clawing during the regular season to get that home ice advantage that by the time the postseason rolled around they were too cocky and had too many eggs in one basket. A lack of performance on the power play is a clear residual effect of this.

Granted, I’m not saying teams should tank the last couple games of the regular season so they can drop into the 5-8 seeds. Where’s the pride in that? Coaches need to realize that they should probably consider resting their big scorers. Call up some rookies, or give some third or fourth-liner some time on the PP. Who knows? Maybe they’ll find someone special.