Golden Knights’ struggling power play under microscope this season

Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer doesn’t want a referendum held on his team’s power play after every game.

“If we go 4-for-4, I’m not going to tell you it’s fixed. And if we go 0-for-4, I don’t want you to say it’s never going to be fixed,” he said during training camp. “Evaluate this at the end of the year.”

But make no mistake: Aside from the team’s goaltending, no area of the Knights’ game this season will be more closely scrutinized than the power play.

That unit’s lack of success the past two postseasons factored heavily into the team’s ouster, and personnel changes were made during the offseason in hopes of avoiding another repeat performance.

“It comes down to coaches; they give us the structure. Everything is there,” left wing Jonathan Marchessault said. “But we need as players to take pride in doing the job. We need to take pride in the power play.”

Historically, the Knights have been hit-or-miss with the man advantage, peaking at 22 percent (ninth overall) during the 2019-20 season.

That inconsistency reared its head in the playoff bubble, as the Knights went 3-for-22 on the power play and couldn’t convert at key moments in a five-game loss to Dallas in the Western Conference final.

The addition of defenseman Alex Pietrangelo before last season was supposed to elevate the power play. Instead, it sunk to 22nd in the NHL (17.8 percent), and the ship ran aground in the playoffs.

The Knights went 4-for-43 overall (league-worst 9.3 percent) and were unable to convert on 18 straight power-play opportunities, including an 0-for-15 showing against Montreal in the Stanley Cup semifinal loss.

“You watch power plays, I think the most successful ones, you can watch the stats and I think it’s off one-timers and stuff. It’s about execution,” Marchessault said. “Obviously, it goes along with connection, also. We’ll see how it goes, but it’s a long season.

“I think we have enough talent in our room to find a solution.”

Forward Evgenii Dadonov was acquired in an offseason trade with Ottawa and has a track record of success on the power play in the middle position, known as the “bumper.” He scored a career-high 11 power-play goals with Florida in 2019-20.

Also, center Nolan Patrick was brought in from Philadelphia to use his size and playmaking at the net-front spot and along the goal line.

That has allowed Mark Stone to work along the left half-wall with Shea Theodore on defense and stationed Max Pacioretty in the right circle, where he seems to be most comfortable firing pucks.

The second unit during training camp featured Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith joined by Pietrangelo and Alec Martinez on defense. Chandler Stephenson also has seen time with that group.

“We do have more pieces. I think that allows guys to go to positions that they’re comfortable,” Pacioretty said. “I think you saw a lot of guys move around in different positions last year, and that sometimes could be putting a square peg in a round hole. And then that has a domino effect on the rest of the unit.

“Hopefully, with two units with depth like that we can figure out a power play that can be lethal this year.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.