The Flyers’ power play still ‘stinks,’ but can they fix it in time for the playoffs?

Standing before the media for the first time all season, Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson was asked a question about newly acquired forward Denis Gurianov being added to the power play when he said the quiet part out loud:

“Well, our power play stinks.”

Indeed.

The Flyers’ power play is at a paltry 12.9%, the basement dweller of the NHL. It’s actually up two-tenths of a percent from Monday thanks to a goal by Morgan Frost during the team’s 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night. The goal ended an 0-for-10 slide in the last four games.

» READ MORE: Flyers-Sharks takeaways: Sam Ersson makes biggest save of season; Power play is improving

“We only got the one, but I thought we did a lot of good things,” said Frost, who leads the team with 10 power-play points. “I think we had some good chances and a lot of good plays by some of those other guys. And I thought we had a better attack mentality and once we did that, I think we kind of tired them out and that opened some more of the little but more-skilled passes.”

The good news is the Flyers’ percentage is not the worst in team history — yet. That officially belongs to the 2021-22 team, which was effective only 12.6% of the time. (The league started tracking the statistic in 1977). Unofficially, the worst percentage came in the franchise’s first year of existence, based on box-score research, at 12.3%. And the worst in the NHL in an 82-game season was the 1997-98 Tampa Bay Lightning at 9.4% (before John Tortorella’s time there).

“It’s a work in progress,” Tortorella — who served the first game of a two-game suspension Tuesday — said in November. It was something Thompson reiterated on Tuesday.

Sure, but time is dwindling. The Flyers have just 16 games left in the regular season to get things on track, and the postseason is where an effective power play can make or break things.

» READ MORE: Flyers believe previous adversity will aid their playoff push: ‘What stands in the way becomes the way’

Despite the power play stinking, to use Thompson’s word, there have been some slight positives. On Nov. 24 after a dreadful 0-for-6 effort against the New York Rangers, the effectiveness was at just 10.1% through the first 21 games. Between then and now it is 14.3% — better, but still the worst in the league despite having the eighth-highest total of power-play opportunities per game. And, back in November, the Flyers were in the offensive zone with the man advantage 54.4% of the time; it is now 57.7% across all 66 games, which is still below the league average of 59.2%.

Thompson runs the power play and has deployed several looks during the season, including against the Sharks. The first unit on Tuesday saw Cam York at the point, Travis Konecny on the left flank, Frost in the bumper, Owen Tippett on the right, and Joel Farabee in front. The second group was Egor Zamula up top, Bobby Brink on the left, Tyson Foerster in the bumper, Scott Laughton at the net front, and Gurianov on the right.

Across all four power plays, the Flyers combined for 23 shot attempts, 12 of those being shots on goal, along with sustained zone pressure while sending two players to the puck when there was a chance for a turnover in the offensive zone.

Thompson liked the chemistry he saw and praised several players for their performance with the man advantage. He was high on Konecny’s decision-making on the half-wall; thought Frost was reading the play well and moving around into open space; and added that York stuck to the game plan to help create time and space. Thompson also praised the second unit as both groups combined for several good looks, including 11 high-danger chances.

But then he gave a solid reason why the Flyers’ power play has not worked this season: “We don’t have a great shooter on our power play, particularly a one-time shooter.”

The NHL does not track one-timers but the Flyers have the third-fewest shots via slap shot (175) and the fewest goals scored on a slap shot (five). Farabee, Konecny, Foerster, Laughton, and Travis Sanheim, who has gotten power-play time on the right flank, have one each. Of Gurianov’s 52 career goals, nine came off a slap shot.

“TK is probably our best shooter and he’s the guy who can score goals but even TK, his timer isn’t at that level,” Thompson said. “You can see Gurianov got an opportunity there in the third period [on a one-timer and] he hammered it; it almost squeaked through. But that was the mindset behind it, is to give him an opportunity, and it’s not going to hurt our power play because it’s no good anyway.”

The question arises then as to why the Flyers use a 1-3-1 setup, which, yes, most of the league does deploy, if they don’t have a great shooter. The system is built for players to take shots off the pass in the faceoff circles. It does give lots of options, but it’s not working effectively and other power-play systems call for different strategies that may be more suited for the Flyers. One thought is an overload that keeps the action primarily on one half of the offensive zone, requires quick passes, and still employs a guy on the doorstep to bang home the puck. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers have the sixth-highest high-danger goals for percentage at 91.67%, with 11 of the team’s 27 power-play goals coming from a spot close to the net.

For now, the Flyers will work on chemistry and building a rapport that should help create an effective power play. The man advantage is not necessarily make-or-break come playoff time, but every goal becomes even more critical when the stakes are raised even higher.