Arizona Coyotes coach Dave Tippett touts team’s power-play success

It’s largely been a season to forget for the Arizona Coyotes, but the Glendale-based hockey team has been quite formidable in one area: the power play.

As of Thursday morning, Arizona ranks sixth in the NHL with a power-play percentage of 22.4. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson is tied for sixth in the league with nine power-play goals, while center Antoine Vermette is tied for 32nd with six. Left wing Lauri Korpikoski and right wing Shane Doan are not far behind with five and four power-play goals, respectively.

Defenseman Keith Yandle has out-shined them all, perhaps, as his 23 power-play assists lead the league.

Head coach Dave Tippett told Bickley and Marrotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Thursday that opposing teams have to account for Arizona’s power-play proficiency when approaching a matchup with the Coyotes.

“(When) you pre-scout every team, teams look at our team and they say, ‘Well, let’s not let Yandle and Ekman-Larsson have an influence on the game on the power play,” Tippett said. “I’m sure they talk about, ‘We have to be disciplined against these guys.’ Now, the other side of that is sometimes your work and the ability to beat people one-on-one draws penalties. So it’s probably a little combination of both: Teams not wanting to put us on the power play, and not having enough guys beat people enough that put teams in tough situations where they have to take power plays.”

Tippett said his team as a whole is strong when it has a man advantage, but he identified Yandle and Ekman-Larsson as the two players who particularly spur the Coyotes’ success in that facet of the game.

“I don’t know if there’s two better guys in the league at running a power play on that offensive blue line,” the coach said.

On the other side of the coin, the Coyotes (20-28-7) have the league’s fifth-worst penalty-kill percentage: 78.3. However, since the middle of January, Arizona’s defense has been quite dominant when shorthanded.

Starting with a Jan. 15 matchup with the Calgary Flames, the Coyotes have only allowed four power-play goals on 44 opportunities — a penalty-kill percentage of 90.9. Meanwhile, Arizona has scored eight power-play goals in 29 chances — a conversion rate of 27.6 percent — during that span.

Improved goaltending has been a factor in the Coyotes’ recent success with penalty killing. Tippett said starter Mike Smith has come around after a rocky start — to say the least — to his season.

“Mike Smith has (had) the best stretch of the season for him — the last five or six games, so that’s been a real positive for us,” the sixth-year Coyotes coach said.

Arizona has gone 3-2-1 over its last six games, and Smith has allowed just eight goals in five starts during that span.

“Smitty’s been real strong for us,” Tippett said. “We’re checking hard and playing hard and doing those things we can to hang around the game, but ultimately when the goaltender can make some big saves for you, that’s what our team needs right now.”

The head coach added he’s noticed a change in the 32-year-old Smith of late.

“He looks confident in practice,” Tippett said. “Every day he goes out (and) just looks like he’s dialed in, and that’s what we need the rest of the way.”