Will there be a power-play breakthrough?

Will the power play break through for the Kings or Phoenix Coyotes tonight? In Game 1, the Kings went 0-for-4 on the power play, with six shots on goal in 5 minutes, 36 seconds, while the Coyotes went 0-for-5, with four shots on goal in 7 minutes, 36 seconds. As Coyotes coach Dave Tippett notes below, the Coyotes had a huge chance when, while trailing 3-2 when 8:47 remaining in the third period, they went on the power play. Just eight seconds later though, Oliver Ekman-Larsson got called for interference to even things up. Neither team got a power play after that.

Among the 16 playoff teams this year, the Coyotes have ranked 11th in power-play percentage while the KIngs have ranked 15th, so if either team can get the power play going, it could be a big factor. Here’s what Tippett said about his team’s power-play efforts in Game 1…

TIPPETT: “Had a couple chances. It’s pretty hard to sustain something when you get a big power play nullified six or seven seconds later. We’ve had two or three like that in the last couple series here. Those ones, they can really kind of put a dagger in your power play because you’re up, you kind of get yourself where you think you have a chance to make a difference, then the difference is taken away. Hanzal had  a couple in the last series. We had the one (in Game 1). Those are issues that certainly don’t help your power play. That being said, I thought there was some execution, just like the rest of our game, that could have been much better (in Game 1), a power play that could have made the difference in the game.’’

Justin Williams also talked about his desire to see the Kings’ power play become more productive…

WILLIAMS: “I think you should obviously try to be — in every game — try to be a plus on the special teams against the other team. Our penalty kill obviously has been pretty good. I thought our power play gave us some decent chances, decent looks. We hit a post. Hopefully when we get that going, we’ll get a lot better.”