Silver Nuggets: Special teams edition

After the Senators scored two goals with the man advantage, and a third goal on a 4-on-4 situation that was essential a power play with the goaltender pulled, I thought it is worth looking at the Senators special teams.

In terms of conversion percentage, the Senators are third in the NHL at 29.0%. That is certainly an excellent rate, but it won't help as much if the club isn't drawing as many penalties. Last year the Senators were 15th in power play percentage but only 24th in power play goals. This year, the Senators are drawing more penalties and are actually tied for the league lead in power play goals with 9. They have earned 31 power play opportunities, good for 7th in the league, however their 3.875 power play chances per game is only good for 17th. It is clear that the Senators power play has been a huge part of their offence, and out of their 23 goals, 9 have been scored with a man (or two-man) advantage. That's 39.1% of their total offence and makes them the fourth most power play dependant team in the league.

While the power play has been excellent, the penalty kill is a different story. Their 69.2% kill rate is 29th in the league and the 12 goals allowed is 30th. They have been shorthanded 39 times, tied for 28th in the league. On a per game basis, they have been shorthanded 4.875 times per game, tied for 25th. The Senators penalty kill is responsible for 35.3% of their total goals allowed, which is 5th most in the NHL.

Ottawa's power play has been excellent but their penalty kill has been even worse. To make matters worse, the Senators are shorthanded exactly one more time per game than they are on the power play. On the bright side, the penalty kill will get better. No team has been below 74% on the penalty kill since the lockout. The power play will slide too, with the best post-lockout power play at 25.5%. The penalty kill unit is playing worse than it actually is and the power play is overachieving, but will the penalty kill improve more or will the power play falter more?

Last game

• Recap of the 4-3 win over Columbus. (Silver Seven, Ottawa Sun, Ottawa Citizen, Jackets Cannon)
• Jackets Cannon tracked scoring chances during the game. The results relate pretty well with the Corsi ratings posted in our recap, with Jason Spezza's line out-chanced by pretty much every Columbus line. Zack Smith's line on the other hand had more net scoring chances regardless of who they were matched up with. Filip Kuba did a solid job on Rick Nash, coming out even in scoring chances with his line. (Jackets Cannon)
• Ottawa's win was only the fourth time in fifteen years a team has won a game in regulation that they trailed in the final minute. (Ottawa Senators)
• Post-game video with Paul MacLean. The Senators may have pulled it out late, but MacLean thinks the Senators deserved the win as they kept at it for 60 minutes. (Ottawa Senators)
• Daniel Alfredsson was understandably very pleased, calling it one of the "sweetest victories". (Ottawa Senators)
• Milan Michalek has been part of a finish like this once or twice before. (Ottawa Senators)
• Jason Spezza was also very happy with the win, also mentioning that the club hasn't had such a win in a while. (Ottawa Senators)
• Sergei Gonchar comments on the veteran leadership on the club, particularly that of Daniel Alfredsson. (Ottawa Senators)