Breakdown: Why the Penguins Power Play Can’t Score | PHN+

The Pittsburgh Penguins power play is not yet a laughingstock because laughing at a helpless creature would be cruel. The numbers are as staggering as they are bewildering. With a man advantage, the Pittsburgh Penguins have generated little momentum, fewer goals, and a high frustration level.

The worst part is, I’m probably being kind.

Below we’re going to breakdown the Penguins power play in practice on Wednesday. The struggles are evident, but the question which must be answered is–can they fix it with the personnel they have? A couple of new entrants began taking work in front of the net, so we could see a player swap on PP2.

The principles from assistant coach Todd Reirden are also becoming clear. The Penguins want continuous movement to confuse and create space, but the execution has been more Washington Generals than Harlem Globetrotters. Head coach Mike Sullivan declined to specify one thing they can do but dropped a laundry list of improvements when PHN asked about diagnoses on Wednesday.

First, the numbers breakdown from NaturalStatTrick.com is brutal.