The Coyotes get ready to face the Blackhawks for the first time ever in the post season when they play game one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Jobing.com Arena. Despite winning the Pacific Division for the first time, head coach Dave Tippett knows special teams is a two-sided story for them.

"I think everything in the playoffs is a clean slate all over the place," he said. "I say that as a coach where our penalty killing has been pretty strong, I wouldn't want a clean slate with that but I want a clean slate with our power play."

The Coyotes' power play during the regular season left much to be desired. They converted at a rate of 13.6%, which puts them in 29th place out of 30 NHL teams in that category. On the other hand, the Coyotes' penalty kill was something to talk about. They had the 8th-best penalty kill unit in the league at 85.5%.

Tippett says they've tried just about everything this season to get better results from their power play, but in the end it comes down to one thing: energy.

"We've tried a lot of different set ups this year. The work ethic and the ability to get the puck to the net, to me that generates energy," he said. "Like I say, we might not score every power play but we gotta create some energy, we gotta create some havoc around their net."

Tippett and the Coyotes hope to snap the streak of being dismissed from the post season in the first round by using the power play to their advantage.

"We've got some people who can score, but the majority of our goals on the power play have come from hard plays around the net and I think that will have to continue," he said.

The ‘Yotes have not made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since moving to the Valley. They've come up short back-to-back years against Detroit in the first round. This year they face a Blackhawks team they beat three out of four times during the regular season.

Game one is Thursday night at Jobing.com Arena, followed by game two on Saturday.