Florida Panthers: What’s holding them back from succeeding?

Power Play

The power play has been a major concern for the Panthers over the years and hasn’t quite been addressed. Last year, the power play ranked 24th in the league and currently sits at 21st. It’s still early in the season, but the Cats have never been a team to totally dominate in the power play department.

Lack of movement on the man advantage has been a key sign to Panthers’ failures. There’s hardly any movement at all and passes are usually telegraphed. Not only does there need to be more creativity, but guys need to start moving their feet. Standing still is exactly what the opposition wants and makes their lives easier killing off the penalty.

Another area of concern has been getting set up in the opposition’s zone. We’ve seen it plenty of times, the Panthers get stripped in the neutral zone and the time on the clock gets eaten up. By the time the power play gets set up, there’s about less than a minute on the penalty. Time is crucial, especially when you’re the team on the power play and looking to score. Good teams cash in on the man advantage and the Cats simply don’t do that.

The Florida Panthers desperately need to improve on the power play and need to start taking advantage of other team’s misfortunes. Like I said, good team’s capitalize on the man advantage and successfully do it on a consistent basis. It will take the Cats some time to reach that level, but better execution needs to start happening now.