The Wraparound: The Panthers’ power play is a mess

The 2021-22 regular season was the best the Florida Panthers organization has ever seen. They finished with the league’s best record to win the first Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history; they had the best offense the league has seen in decades; and they have already advanced to the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in 26 years and just the second time ever.

There are a lot of positives and successes here.

But great success brings great expectations. Even though the Panthers are in the Second Round at the moment, playing in Game 2 against the defending back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, they have not really been overly impressive in the playoffs to this point.

They struggled against the Washington Capitals more than most expected and needed several come-from-behind (and overtime) wins just to get through. At one point they were just a couple of inches away from being down 3-1 in the series if Garnet Hathaway‘s shot at an empty net had gone in the net in Game 4 for the Capitals.

That sort of effort and performance may not be enough against a team like the Lightning. There is perhaps no area that needs more immediate improvement for them to have a chance in this series than their power play. Through the first seven games that unit has been, in a word, rough.

After being one of the best power plays in the NHL during the regular season, they enter Game 2 having yet to score a goal in their first seven playoff games, currently sporting an 0-for-21 mark. Even worse than the lack of goals is the disorganized look of it and the fact they are not even really generating any strong chances or looks. It would be one thing if they looked crisp and were creating shots