CBJ power play story

Since the Blue Jackets joined the NHL in 2000, they have finished in the league’s top 10 on the power play only one time.

That year was 2014-15, when they finished at 21.7 percent on the man advantage, good for a tie for fifth in the league.

But that could change this season, as the Blue Jackets own their highest power-play percentage as a franchise at 22.6 percent, good for 11th in the league. In 18 games since Dec. 19, the Blue Jackets have scored on 12 of 36 opportunities, good for second in the NHL.

The top unit for the Blue Jackets has excelled this year, totaling 24 of the team’s 28 goals. Although a few injuries have made the unit change throughout the year, the group has primarily stayed together and been able to build chemistry that is turning into success.

“It's that connection of keeping the units together, where they know where each other are,” said assistant coach Mike Haviland, who helps run the power play. “It's like a line or a pair of D; the longer they play together, the more they kind of read off of each other.”

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      CBJ@PIT: Fantilli scores PPG against Tristan Jarry

      Haviland has been a key to the success for the Blue Jackets this year. This is his first year with the NHL squad after he spent the previous two seasons working with its AHL affiliate in Cleveland, helping bring the team to the Eastern Conference Final of the Calder Cup playoffs a season ago.

      Haviland’s experience at all levels in hockey, including a four-year stint with the Chicago Blackhawks where he helped them win a Stanley Cup, has boosted the team and has brought individual buy-in from each of the players on the team.

      “I think he prepares us every night to go out there and have success,” Werenski said. “He shows us the other team's penalty kill before every game, shows us what can work against it, and then when we work on it in practice, it's the same message. You should be direct, move the puck quickly, get it to the (net) as fast as we can. I think we've done that this year. I think we've all bought into what (Haviland) has kind of been teaching us, and I think when everyone has a collective buy-in, it obviously makes things a lot easier.”

      There is much difference in personnel between this season and the previous one. This year, the top unit has usually featured Zach Werenski as the quarterback, Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko on the flanks, Sean Monahan as the bumper and Dmitri Voronkov at the net front, with Adam Fantilli filling in when Johnson and Monahan have had to miss time with injury.

      One of the biggest changes has been the emergence of Johnson, the highly skilled forward who has taken a massive step in his development this season and has been a key to this unit. A master of puck possession with a good eye for passes, he’s scored two goals and added eight assists on the man advantage this year.

      “He's got that vision and that hockey sense," Haviland said. "We talk a lot about getting the puck and skating out of traffic with it. He does that really well. He can separate himself to give himself an extra second or two, where something else will open up.”

      Johnson has prided himself on being able to create space for his teammates, either by holding on to the puck or making a fake that causes defenders to back off. He said that is something he has picked up from repetition and from watching others in the NHL like Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin.

      “Being on the power play for so long, you figure out certain spots where the PK is vulnerable, when they want to pressure,” Johnson said. “A lot of it is honestly, it’s like, I’m about to pass it to Z or someone and I see the PKer’s feet start to turn like he’s expecting me to pass, and then you just hold on to the puck. It’s such a good feeling. Like you basically do nothing, but they back off from a little shaft fake or head fake or whatever. It’s a cool feeling.

      “It’s something I’ve watched. Other guys do it. I think Panarin does it really well and Kane and those guys. It’s fun to make plays like that that are subtle.”

      Along with the many things that have made this power-play unit click, Werenski’s career year may be right up there at the top of the list. His five goals on the power play place him second on the team as well as tied for second in the league among defensemen in that regard. He is firmly within the top of the league at quarterbacking the power play.

      “He's been great,” Johnson said. “He's been running power play for a long time, and I think he definitely knows how to do it well. He's been I think even better this year, like scoring more and just really easy to play with as a half-wall guy. He puts it where I want it almost every time I want it, so it's perfect. Definitely the best quarterback I've played with.”

      The revitalization of the team’s zone entries has also been a welcomed adjustment for the Blue Jackets as Haviland has done a lot of work to make sure they have improved in that area.

      “I think you gotta give them different looks,” Haviland said. “I mean, everybody does the two-man drop, right? But I think we've gone through a one-man drop. We've done three back, we've done four back. I think you've got to give different looks to different teams.”

      Speed kills, and when the Blue Jackets were being built through the draft and trades, that attribute was most definitely in mind as each player on the top unit can skate fast and well.

      “I think a lot of it for us is the speed,” Haviland said. “You got to come with speed. You know, there's that combination when you have guys that can control the puck like (Marchenko) and (Werenski) and (Johnson) and (Fantilli). I think you'll get a lot of success on your entries.”

      All the previous reasons have been important for the production of the power-play unit this season, but the group also has been given a huge boost by its secret weapon, Dmitri Voronkov.

      A commanding netfront presence at 6-foot-5 but also boasting the hands to score in tight areas, Voronkov leads the team in power-play goals with seven. According to Werenski, he’s also been a big reason the defenseman has scored so many goals from the point.

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          BOS@CBJ: Voronkov scores PPG against Joonas Korpisalo

          “For me, on the goals I've scored up top, a lot of it has to do with (Voronkov), how big he is in screening the goalie and just delivering pucks to the blue, to be honest,” Werenski said. “I think the netfront guy and the bumper guys are the most important positions on the power play. A lot of guys in this league have skill, and sometimes all that skill, the power plays don't work. And I feel like it's because you don't have a guy netfront that's screening the goalies and making it hard on them. We have that right now.”

          “We know what the most high-danger plays are; obviously (Voronkov) at the net there is one of the biggest ones,” Johnson said. “So (Marchenko), he's been really good finding him, and scored quite a lot there. So, yeah, it's been good.”

          Add it all up and talented players are making plays to allow the Blue Jackets to thrive. Many of those pieces are young players who are learning on the job and starting to have a big impact on the success of the unit.

          “I think (Marchenko and Johnson) are allowed to play with more freedom right now and make their plays,” Werenski said. “If they make mistakes, they're allowed to learn from them.”

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