Why this year’s NHL playoffs have seen a rise in the importance of power plays

There’s never been a need for discipline in the playoffs more than this year. Power plays are operating at a high level, as teams are making the most of their opportunities on the advantage. 

If you’ve been watching a lot of the Islanders and Avalanche, that may be a surprise seeing as each team’s only scored once on the advantage. The Panthers, Devils and Golden Knights only notched two apiece heading into Thursday night. Meanwhile, the Stars boast nine power-play tallies, and the Oilers are just behind with eight.  

Through the first 37 games of the 2023 postseason, there were a total of 265 power-play opportunities. Teams capitalized with 68 goals, which shook out to a league-wide efficiency rate of 25.7 percent. That’s the best in the playoffs since power-play opportunities started getting tracked in 1977-78. 

It’s no surprise teams are trending here, considering the last three years all rank in the top six since the stat started being collected. It comes on the heels of a regular season where power-play goal scoring was on the rise, too — a season with the best operating power play came from the Oilers who converted on 32.4 percent of their opportunities. They’ve continued to roll into the playoffs. 

Ahead of Thursday’s matchups, power-play goals were being scored at an average rate of 1.84 per game. That’s the most of any postseason in the analytics era, dating back to 2008. The 68 power-play goals before Thursday made up about 28.5 percent of the 239 goals scored in the playoffs. That’s the second-highest mark in the postseason in the analytics era, trailing 2008’s 30.7 percent. It stacks up well all time, as the 13th-best clip since 1978 when power-play opportunities were first recorded. 

Scoring chance generation has been on the rise as well. On the power play, teams created chances at a rate of 1.66 individual expected goals per 60, which is so far second best in the analytics era to 2022. That was something that trended up in the regular season to 1.65 per 60, which is ahead of the next best (2021-22) by 0.17. 

A few factors may be contributing to that. Teams are leaning on their top power-play units more in recent years, which means more ice time for the best offensive threats they have to offer. Another reason may be the rise of a four-forward, one-defenseman power-play unit. Florida’s the exception, among this year’s playoff teams, after rolling with both Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad on PP1 for stretches this year. While that formation may not be the exact cause of the rise in quality looks on the power play, it’s likely correlated. So might be a tweak in strategy. Teams are relying less on point shots and more on pressure from the flanks — which is where the team’s best shooters tend to be stationed. Plus, there’s been more of an emphasis on net-front production, which leads to some of the highest expected goal values of all shots considering the proximity to the net.