Ottawa Senators Special Teams Truly Special So Far This Season

With an increasing emphasis placed on man advantage play, the Ottawa Senators have the best ranked special teams in the NHL.

February 1, 2013; Raleigh, NC, USA; Ottawa Senators defensemen Erik Karlsson (65) carries the puck against the Carolina Hurricanes at the PNC center. The Hurricanes defeated the Senators 1-0. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

POWER PLAY

• Power play ranks 4th with a 27.3% success rate.
• Tied for 6th most power play goals (9) despite having the 4th fewest opportunities
• The Senators are 29th in terms of total time on the power play (46:43)
• 14 different players have at least 1 power play point

PENALTY KILL

• PK ranks 3rd at 90.9%
• 4th fewest Power Play Goals against (4), despite being shorthanded more than 21 other teams
• Ottawa has spent the fourth most time on the Penalty kill in the league (75:15)

OVERALL

• When you add their PK rank with the PP rank, the Senators overall rank is  7 which is the best in the league.  Edmonton (9) is next followed by San Jose and Tampa Bay (12), and Pittsburgh (16).
• Ottawa’s PP% + PK% is a league high 118.2, higher than Tampa’s 116.7 and Edmonton’s 115.5.
• Ottawa has the second lowest net power play – penalty kill time in the league.  They have spent 28:32 more on the PK than on the PP this season.

So you can garner a couple of things from these stats:

1.  The special teams are good, no matter who is on the ice.

2. They need to draw more penalties to get more power play goals.

3. Paul MacLean is doing what he was brought here to do.