Inside the numbers: Power play adjustments

The Flyers rank in the middle of the NHL pack in power play efficiency this season, ranking 16th in the 31-team league with a 20.8 success rate (47-for-226). Overall, the team has a 102.6 special teams number (combined power play and penalty kill percentages).

That represents a big improvement from last season. In 2018-19, the Flyers power play was tied for 22nd in the league at 17.1 percent success. The club's penalty kill (78.5 percent) ranked 26th. Only four teams had a lower special teams number than the Flyers 95.6 combined total.

Any total below 100 is in the red, while 105 and up are excellent. The lowest combined special teams mark in the NHL this season is the Detroit Red Wings' 89.2 (14.9 percent power play, 74.3 percent penalty kill). The highest score belongs to the Edmonton Oilers at 113.9 (29.5 percent power play, 84.4 percent penalty kill).

The Flyers are one of six NHL teams this season that posted both 20-plus percent success rate on the power play and 80-plus percent success on the PK. Thus, the Flyers have made a major step in the right direction on both ends of special teams this season. Even so, there is still room for further improvement in order to get into the top 10 in each individual category.

Here's a month-by-month breakdown of the Flyers' special teams this season:

OCT: PP 23.8 (10-for-42), PK 85.3 (29-for-34), ST 104.1
NOV: PP 16.7 (9-for-54), PK 86.0 (37-for-43), ST 102.7'
DEC: PP 20.0 (8-for-40), PK 74.4 (32-for-43), ST 94.4
JAN: PP 19.4 (6-for-31), PK 79.4 (27-for-34), ST 98.8
FEB: PP 24.4 (10-for-41), PK 86.5 (32-for-37), ST 110.9
MAR:PP 22.2 (4-for-18), PK 77.8 (14-for-18), ST 100.0
OVERALL: PP 20.8 (47-for-226, 14th),PK 81.8 (171-for-209, 11th), ST 102.6

In this edition of "Inside the Numbers," we'll look at the power play side of the equation: What adjustments have been made? What has worked well? What could have worked out better? A future article will look at the penalty kill.

BEFORE THE SEASON

Last summer, in conjunction with hiring Alain Vigneault as head coach, the Flyers brought in veteran Michel Therrien to replace Kris Knoblauch as the team's power play coach.

Last season, the Flyers tried to get the stalled power play going via a wide array of tweaks; some subtle, some major with shifts in both personnel and alignment.

One major change took place in the second half of the season. The team moved all left-handed shooters to the left side and all right-handers to the right. This included relocating Claude Giroux from his longtime "office" on the left half-boards over the right side and Jakub Voracek from his customary spot of moving up and down the right side, from the point down to the bottom of the circle.

There was a dual purpose for the side switches:the ability to play pucks off the boards on the forehand, and adjusting the passing angles to a personnel switch that replaced the team's longtime first-unit netfront forward Wayne Simmonds (a right-hander) with James van Riemsdyk (a left-handed).

In a July 2019 interview, Therrien laid out his basic philosophies behind the power play.

"Different teams have different power play systems. You can have success with everyone on their natural side or some guys on their off-side. It depends," Therrien said.

"One thing for me with the power play, I believe in being aggressive around the net. Get pucks and bodies to the net. Everywhere I've coached, that's been important in our success. There are different ways to do that with how you set up and move the puck, but you want the pucks in that [high-danger] area."

When the season began, the Flyers tried out a wide array of different looks on the power play; changing around the personnel on both power play units, tinkering with alignments, testing out different methods of trying to generate offensive zone entries and getting set up. Some things clicked, others didn't.

For much of the first half of the season, Giroux and Voracek remained on their natural side on PP1 (although they occasionally rotated to their off-sides). That was something that did not work out as hoped, either last year or this season.

A familiar look: with some twists

For many years, the Flyers' PP1 personnel setup was predictable but nevertheless was tough for opponents to stop until things went south by 2018-19.

The first unit used an umbrella setup with Giroux on the left side, Voracek manning the right side, a defenseman (almost exclusively Shayne Gostisbehere, previously Mark Streit and, before him, Kimmo Timonen) working left-to-center point, a slot/bumper shooter (Sean Couturier replaced Brayden Schenn, who had replaced Scott Hartnell) and Wayne Simmonds at netfront.

In the second half of the 2019-20 season, the Flyers began to regularly deploy a PP1 alignment that is fairly close -- but not identical -- to the familiar alignment.

For starters, Voracek, who briefly moved to the second unit for a few games in the first half of the season and otherwise was often deployed on the left side of PP1, returned to his off-side office on PP1.

Giroux has moved back to his "office" on the left half boards. From the left side, his one-timer is a consistently viable option (which is not regularly the case when he's on the right). Just as important, he has said that reading the passing and shooting lanes is more comfortable for him on the left because he's been on that side for most of his NHL career.

However, there are some wrinkles to this familiar setup. Most notably, Giroux moves around more than he did in the past. To throw a different look at teams, Giroux will sometimes drop down to (or just below) the goal line area when the Flyers have clean possession in the attack zone. He can do this on either side of the ice.

Below is a video example of this adjustment:Giroux stations himself to the left side of the goal line and winds up finishing off the play for a power play goal, as he steps out in front. It doesn't get much nicer than this tic-tac-toe hookup from Travis Konecny to Voracek to Giroux. Wide open, the captain steps out in front of the net and scores.

A variation: This play actually started with Giroux on the right side, due to the Flyers captain taking a right circle faceoff. Giroux wins the draw. Voracek gets the puck out to the point and then rotates to his right side "office" to receive the puck as Giroux moves below the goal line. Voracek passes to Giroux, who circles around behind the net. Giroux then tees up a one-timer for an open Couturier, who blasts home a shot.

The Flyers still sometimes rotate Giroux to the right side and Voracek to the left. This is done to throw an occasional different look at opposing teams. In this play, Giroux has plenty of time and space and takes advantage of it to blast home a power play goal off a pass-out from Couturier.

Personnel change at the point

Another power play change the Flyers have made as the season progressed is the placement of Ivan Provorov as the point man on PP1 rather than Gostisbehere. Among Provorov's 13 goals and 23 assists this season, seven of his tallies and nine of his helpers have come on the man advantage.

The video below depicts a rather old-school type of power play goal. Giroux, working the left side, funnels the puck to the net but the play gets broken up in front. The opposing PK (Washington) attempts to clear the puck but Provorov holds it. The puck is rotated from Voracek to Giroux and then back to Provorov. The defenseman's point shot creates a rebound, and Travis Konecny puts it home.

Here's one where Provorov's shot finds the net. Tampa defenseman Victor Hedman has lost his stick and Travis Konecny creates some distraction around goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Double-netfront look

Before James van Riemsdyk went down with a hand injury, the Flyers found some power play success with a double-netfront alignment on some power plays. JVR would set up at one side of the net with Konecny at the other side.

The strategy worked to perfection in the example below. St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington has no chance of preventing this slam dunk by Konecny off a cross-crease touch pass from van Riemsdyk.

After the trade deadline, the Flyers occasionally have also deployed a double-netfront look with Derek Grant as one of the forwards parked near the net.

PP2 variations

Unlike the Flyers first power play unit, which usually features four forwards and one defensemen, the second unit has often had two defensemen at either point. Matt Niskanen has been a regular at the right point. Provorov was on the left before he moved up to to PP1 and Gostisbehere to PP2. When Gostisbehere was out with a knee injury, Travis Sanheim got an opportunity for regular duty on PP2.

Periodically this season, Kevin Hayes has been deployed on the first power play unit. However, the majority of his time has been spent on the second unit. At different junctures, Konecny and JVR have also moved back and forth between PP units.

In this video example: Hayes and Niskanen exchange the puck twice and Hayes eventually makes a gorgeous pass to set up the pinching D-man for a goal.

There was also a lengthy spell in the first quarter of the season where the Flyers often kept the successful five-on-five trio Couturier centering Oskar Lindblom and Konecny together on the power play. On this goal, Lindblom scores on a simple re-direct play from the side of the net. Konecny does the set up work on the sequence.

Among Lindblom's 11 goals in 30 games this season before he received his Ewing Sarcoma diagnosis. On a closing note, here's hoping for a full recovery and a long, healthy life for Oskar as he fights to beat Ewing Sarcoma.