A glaring stat is already appearing after just two games for the Tampa Bay Lightning. It comes from the power play, something that has been their strength for years.
To say they haven’t capitalized is how it can be descibed full stop. In 10 opportunities, they’ve scored zero times.
None at all?
None.
They finished 0-for-7 against the New York Rangers on opening night, and then they whiffed on three chances against the Capitals in their win on Saturday.
There isn’t a call to sound the alarm quite yet, but it’s not a good sight when there has been a statistical decline over the last few seasons.
During the 2023-24 season, they finished with a the best power-play unit in the NHL, scoring 28.6% of the time. Then, it dropped a bit to 25.9%. It was still top five in the league. Concern wasn’t there yet. Nor should there have been.
Once it dropped to 20.7%, which was 17th in the NHL last season, that becomes noteworthy.
This is just for the regular season. In the playoffs, the power play has been under 20% for the last two seasons.
Knowing this team, it could turn around at any time, but it’s a stat to keep in mind as the season comes along.
Potentially better than the numbers say
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper spoke positively after the power play unit finished scoreless on Saturday. He went to the lengths of referring to it as “outstanding.”
“There's games when the power play can 3-for-4, and you're like, 'Wow, that was surprising,” Cooper said. “And there's games you can go 0-for-3 tonight, and be like, 'I can't believe it didn't go in the net.' Sometimes it just happens that way, but they deserved a better statistical line than they got tonight."
You know, fair enough.
Sometimes, you score because you fluked one to the back of the net. Other times, you put on a strong offensive attack, and the goalie was just dialed in.
Will that ease the nerves of everyone who is checking the stats sheet? Maybe not. But that is reality. Stats can be finicky when the sample size is small.
Monday’s game will feature a Philadelphia Flyers team that’s had very little go their way this season. Last year, their penalty kill unit finished 22nd in the NHL (77.6%). So far this year, it’s at 66.7%. Two of their opponents went 2-for-4 against them.
Perhaps this is the golden opportunity to get that first power-play goal of the year.
Still, it’ll take longer than three games to decide if it’s a concern. We’ll look at how it looks since the 0-for-10 start over the next couple of weeks, and we’ll talk.
Even if it’s a weak spot, would that matter?
This wouldn’t be a proper conversation without at least discussing whether having a weaker power play will matter at all. For the record, succeeding on the power should always be the expectation, but hear this out.
Last year, they finished fourth in goals scored with 286 for the season. How many fewer goals is that compared to when their power-play unit was the best in the NHL in 2023-24? Two. That’s it.
When they led the NHL in goals during the 2024-25 season, they only scored six more goals than in 2025-26.
That effort general manager Julien BriseBois put into constructing a roster that was better during 5-on-5 action, which was a major issue for them at one point, picked up a lot of slack.
On the flip side of special teams, the penalty kill continues to be a strength of theirs. Let’s also not forget that Vasilevskiy is back to his peak form, and the backup situation may be better, too.
All of those help to offset how they may perform this season overall on the power play.
Even just in the context of this season, the power play wasn't necessarily a difference-maker in either game. In the loss to the Rangers, virtually everything went wrong. In the win over the Capitals, eight different players got their names on the score sheet.
So, if we circle back, it may only be because it makes the difference along the line. If they’re winning, any lacking stats could be overlooked quickly.
Bottom line, keep in mind, but hold off stressing out over it.
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