Toronto has just two goals on 12 power play opportunities — a 16.6 percent success rate — through their last five games.
The Toronto Maple Leafs practiced on Monday for the first time since New Year's Day, and what came before the team's skate was rather fascinating.
While some of Toronto's forwards and defence skated on other rinks inside Ford Performance Centre, the Maple Leafs' two power play units worked on the Maple Leafs' ice before practice.
At one end of the rink: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander, and Matthew Knies. On the other end: Max Domi, Bobby McMann, Nick Robertson, Morgan Rielly, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
"It's valuable time for us," Matthew Knies said on Monday after practice.
"We haven't been at Ford for a while now, so it's good to get out there and just refine our tools and look at some video and dig into some detail on our practices."
Toronto's power play has been rather average this season under head coach Craig Berube and assistant coach Marc Savard. They're operating with a 20.6 percent success rate on the man advantage this season, 19th in the NHL.
Berube mentioned on Monday that his team, throughout the last 10 games, has been 23 percent, "which is pretty good." However, with a top unit of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, and Knies (or Rielly), they should be scoring a lot more often.
"There's a lot of talent out there. It can make it tricky sometimes," Berube said on Monday.
"Having an opportunity to deliver the puck to the net, we gotta deliver it to the net. That's how they go in the net. And, with Kniesy in front of the net, he does a great job of being in there all the time. He's very good at it. Our flankers and our top guy, their job is to get pucks to the net."
Toronto's top unit — whether it has Knies or Morgan Rielly on it — has made up for 88 percent of the Maple Leafs goals on the power play this season. (Tavares and Nylander have seven, Marner has five, Matthews has four, and Rielly and Knies each have one.)
Bobby McMann is the lone other play with a power play goal for Toronto this season.
The Maple Leafs have been the third-best team on the man advantage, behind the Tampa Bay Lightning and Edmonton Oilers, for over 10 years. However, if you trim it back to the start of last season when Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving took over, Toronto's power play has operated at 22.8 percent, good enough for 10th-best in the league.
"I think, we should be a top power play. It has been a top power play for a number of years," Treliving said on Monday during his mid-season media availability. "It needs to be a difference-maker for us. And it hasn't been right now. So that's certainly an area of focus."
The Maple Leafs last scored a power play goal on Jan. 9 in their 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. They've had 12 opportunities on the man advantage in their last five, however, have only found the back of the net twice.
"Obviously, we're frustrated we're not scoring a little bit. But, I think there just needs to be more urgency. I think we all understand the job ahead of us," Knies said on Monday.
"We're willing to work and make plays and try to score and help this team out because special teams is very important in the game and we just haven't been doing a good job of it so far."
When Toronto enters their game on Tuesday against the Dallas Stars, a team tied for first on the penalty kill this season, Berube wants to see the power play executing and firing shots at the net.
"Could [the power play] be better? Yeah. For me, it's sometimes a time of game when you get a power play and you just kill your momentum with it. That's what stands out," Berube said.
"We gotta be better at that where we generate momentum off the power play. It doesn't always go in the net, but we gotta generate momentum, and how you do that is by execution and attacking and shooting pucks."
