DETROIT — The Islanders have set up their power play unit essentially as a mirror of their top two lines, with Anders Lee, Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau together on one side and Max Tsyplakov on the other. , Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri are placed together.
Both lines played well at 5-on-5.
However, this power play configuration is no better than any other configurations coach Patrick Roy has tried, and the Islanders remain 31st in the league with a worst power play success rate of 12.28 percent, and the Red Wings on Thursday They lost the match 2-1.
“Obviously when things aren't going well, you want to get the puck at the net,” Palmieri said before Thursday's loss, with the Islanders scoring just one power-play goal over the past two weeks. he told the Post. “But I think if we can time it better and get everyone to the net at the same time, we'll have some second chances. When those opportunities come, we'll find ourselves a little too spread out or flat-footed. There may be.”
But timing and getting to the net don't seem to be major issues for Palmieri's 5-on-5 unit. The trio has scored 11 goals and accounts for 58.3 percent of the expected goal share, according to Natural Stat Trick.
In theory, it should be easier in favor of men. So what does that give?
“I think we can definitely take a page out of playing five-on-five if we recover the puck and support each other,” Palmieri said. “I think we read each other well.Obviously, on the power play, a) you want to take advantage of extra personnel. b) A lot of times you have extra space. …
“But like I said, it goes back to not overcomplicating things. They don't have to be the prettiest plays. By the time we get to the finish line, make sure we execute and get to the net.” I have to make sure I meet Puck in there.”
Roy agreed, noting that Calgary's Rasmus Andersson repeatedly thwarted the best chances on two power-play chances during Tuesday night's loss.
“I think both. [units] We need to do the same thing, which is put the puck in the net,” Roy said. “There are a few things. It just happens sometimes.” [not] All you have to do is throw the puck towards the net, but what matters is how quickly you hit the next shot back. That's what we have to do.
“You just have to try a little harder. If you take shots, you have to get better at puck recovery, you have to rebuild something from puck recovery. You have to not give them a chance to get set, Don't launch an attack from there.”
The Red Wings honored Hockey Hall of Famer Pavel Datsyuk before Thursday's game.
Datsyuk's former agent, Dan Milstein, who represents the Islanders' Ilya Sorokin and Alexander Romanov, also attended.
