The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Los Angeles Kings are two of the best power-play teams in the playoffs, so far.
The Kings are sitting atop the league in power-play percentage (58.3 percent), and they are also first in the NHL in power-play goals with seven.
Toronto sits just behind the Kings in power-play percentage at 55.6 percent over three games. They are also third in total power-play goals with five, narrowly behind the St. Louis Blues, who scored three in their 7-2 win in Game 3, bringing their total to six.
Other than having similar success and statistics with the extra man, Toronto and L.A. have one more thing in common with their top power-play units – they are made up of five forwards and no defenseman.
The majority of teams in the NHL use four forwards, with their most offensive defenseman quarterbacking the power play. That’s not the case for the Leafs and Kings.
For the most part, Los Angeles uses Adrian Kempe at the point with Anze Kopitar occasionally coming short to receive the puck. The Kings do have the choice to put a D-man on the top unit with Drew Doughty and Brandt Clarke on the roster, but coach Jim Hiller has decided to put them on the second unit.
Toronto has Mitch Marner at the blueline dictating the play with his elite playmaking and ability to walk the line. In seasons past, Morgan Rielly would be the quarterback, but coach Craig Berube has found success with the five-man unit.
Former NHL coach Bruce Boudreau spoke about the Maple Leafs’ five-forward power-play unit in the latest episode of The Hockey News’ Big Show.
“The Leaf five, I find amazing. All five of them are so good,” Boudreau said. He further complimented Toronto’s top unit and highlighted how important Marner is to the formation.
“Marner, I think, is the best distributor this side of Connor McDavid of the puck, and he can defend when needed.”
While the five-man forward unit is a relatively new concept and not many teams use it, the NHL is a copycat league. Maybe next season, teams that don’t have an offensive defenseman will put this idea into consideration.
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