Coyotes see hopeful signs in struggling power play

Bruins at Coyotes

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Gila River Arena, Glendale

TV: FOX Sports Arizona

Radio: ESPN 620 AM

Scouting the Bruins: Boston is off to a 1-3 start and got its first win on Wednesday in Colorado. The once water-tight Bruins have allowed the third most goals per game in the NHL at 4.5. The losses of defenseman Johnny Boychuk and Dougie Hamilton the last two years, along with an aging Zdeno Chara (38), have left a one-time Cup contender at a crossroads between rebuilding and denial. Center David Krejci leads the team with three goals and six points in four games. Goalie Tuukka Rask is struggling with a 4.72 goals against average and .846 save percentage in three games.     

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The numbers don’t look good, but Coyotes assistant coach Newell Brown insists he’s seeing progress and promise from the team’s 27^th ranked power-play unit.

“We’re not seeing a lot of goals but the things that we like to accomplish have been there in terms of possession time in the zone, net presence and getting shots; getting chances,” Brown said. “Some of the other things, the little, automatic plays, will come over time with repetition.”

Through four games, the Coyotes have scored just one goal on 21 power-play chances and they allowed a shorthanded goal on Thursday against Minnesota to make the man advantage a wash for the season. That’s a far cry from the last two seasons. The Coyotes finished seventh in the NHL in 2014-15 at 20 percent, and fourth the season before at 19.9 percent with defenseman Keith Yandle quarterbacking the unit for most of those two seasons.

“The bar has been set pretty high, but we want to take it one step at a time,” Brown said. “We have some new faces and Boeds (Mikkel Boedker) is playing the point so those types of things are new to our group and it takes time to adjust.”

The new faces on the power play are rookies Max Domi and Anthony Duclair, who has the lone power play goal. The biggest change however — and one that has been noticeable to fans because of a couple mistakes that created shorthanded chances against Los Angeles and some mishandled pucks against Minnesota — is Boedker’s move from the half wall to the point.

Coach Dave Tippett saw Boedker play the point with Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the American Hockey League and thought it might be something to try if the team ever suffered an injury on defense or wanted a change of pace. As it turned out, Boedker’s insertion was a matter of necessity this season.

Three of the team’s top six defenseman, Nicklas Grossmann, Klas Dahlbeck and Zbynek Michalek, are poor fits for the power play so the Coyotes don’t have a fourth defenseman to man the point with the man advantage.

The Coyotes traded Brandon Gormley for Stefan Elliott to add a right-handed shot, and they’d still like to get more looks at him on the power play, but if Elliott is in the lineup, it means one of the three aforementioned defensemen would either have to leave the lineup, removing a good defender, or the Coyotes would need to dress seven defensemen and only 13 forwards, disrupting their top four lines.

Boedker admits he is pressing a little bit at the offensive end as he tries to notch his first goal of the season, but he also acknowledges that the long layoff after an emergency splenectomy last January in Winnipeg may be playing a role.

“It’s been a long time since I played and it’s only four games in, for sure, but there’s no excuses when the chances are there. You’ve got to put them in,” he said. “I had a couple chances (in Thursday’s loss to Minnesota). I hit the net on the one, but it was the wrong part of the net. I hit the netting (on the outside).

“It would be nice to pop one in.”

With the injury layoff as backdrop and the adjustment to a new role thrown in, Brown is willing to be patient with Boedker because he is seeing positives.

“It’s a different game for him,” Brown said. “In the offensive zone, he’s accustomed to moving toward the net from the half wall. Now he’s paying the point and we’re asking him to bring the puck up the ice.

“I think he’s making good decisions.”

There are several changes to which Boedker must adapt at the point, Brown said.

“One of the major things is to recognize when to shoot it and when to pass it. When a shooting lane is available, getting a shot through to the net is a huge skill for a power play defenseman,” Brown said.

“Distributing pucks to the right people and walking across the blue line are two more, and they’re unfamiliar to him because he’s used to walking forward. It’s about repetition and developing muscle memory over time.”

Brown likes the dynamic, freelancing element that Duclair and Domi bring to the power play but he says they must adjust to a little more structure and working without the puck a little more. He likes the net presence he’s getting from center Martin Hanzal and he thinks Boedker will grow into his role.

“It’s a work in progress,” he said. “We’re trying to collaborate with the players to get a sense of what they’re seeing out there and we’re still getting a sense of what works and what doesn’t. It’s early but we’re seeing some positive signs.”

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