Video Vault - Understanding the 5-on-3 Power Play

Understanding the 5-on-3 Power Play
 
It’s amazing how many youth and junior teams end up wasting 5-on-3 opportunities.
 
Teams are always thrilled to have a two-man advantage – to the point that they literally give the puck to the other team to get the whistle and get the 5-on-3 started – but many times it becomes evident that they probably don’t spend a lot of time working on this particular situation in practice.
 
There are a few factors at work that seem to limit a team’s effectiveness in these situations.
 
First, there often is little sense of urgency. The team with the advantage often appears to relax to the point that it is almost too patient and gets careless with the puck almost as if the players think that if they possess the puck long enough eventually there will be opportunities.
 
This leads to a lot of passing around the perimeter without a purpose and lackadaisical passes that can lead to turnovers and eventually cause the team with the puck to attempt to force passes into tight areas or take bad shots as the penalties wind down.

Another issue that often surfaces is that some teams are too anxious and take the first open shot no matter where it is from. There never should be a bad-angle shot taken on a 5-on-3, nor should shots be taken from the point with the defense hasn’t been forced to move its feet and is just stationary.
 
The whole point of the 5-on-3 is to get the defense moving back and forth with short, quick purposeful passes that open up shooting lanes because the defenders can’t possibly get back in position quickly enough to affect the shot. Once the defenders are one pass behind and scrambling it’s just a matter of time before a high-probability scoring chance will present itself.
 
That leads us to the biggest mistake teams make, especially youth and junior teams, with a two-man advantage: spreading too far apart.  
 
There is a misconception that by spreading out more you are forcing the defense to cover more ground if they hope to affect shots, close of lanes and shut down opportunities. The reality is that by spreading out, you are making it easier on the D.
 
First, let’s take a look at the angles in the zone.
 
Grab a sheet of paper and draw the offensive zone. Within the zone draw a small box that extends from the top of the faceoff circles down to the bottom of the faceoff circles with all of the points of intersection inside the faceoff dots. Then draw a larger box that touches the outside of the faceoff circles and extends from the bottom of the circles out to a point maybe five or six feet from the blue line.
 
Look at the smaller box. Place three defenders in there as a triangle or inverted triangle. Then place offensive players at the corner of the small box with one forward in the slot. Do the same with the larger box.
 
Notice that for defenders to be able to clog shooting lanes and prevent the offensive team from taking clear shots, the distance they have to move in either case is about the same. However, what happens to the distance the puck has to travel? It increases substantially, which actually gives the defensive team more time to get back into a good defending position as the puck moves back and forth.
 
In addition, the players on the outside are not really scoring threats as they are much farther away, have to get the puck through traffic and often are shooting from bad angles. The only player who is a real threat is the guy in the slot, and he’s got three defenders surrounding him.
 
Of course, the players down low can move in and out and get into better position, but the fact remains that the longer the passes have to be, the easier it is – and less physically taxing it is – for the shorthanded team to defend.
 
Take a look at the clips of these three 5-on-3 goals and note what they all have in common.
 
 
 
 
  • In each case, when the video freezes as the puck goes in the net, all five players are pretty much in the screen. All are inside the faceoff dots or very close. Two are at the tops of the circles. One or two is about even with the bottom of the circles or a few feet away from the crease. And one or two is in the slot.
  • The goals are set up by short, quick passes that leave a defensive player or players unable to get back into the shooting lane.
  • The players down low are not so low that they can’t finish if a rebound comes their way – and they will beat the defense to any rebound that comes out on an angle in either direction.
  • The shots, although not from point-blank range, come from a spot out in front of the goal to give the shooter the ability so pick any spot of the goal to shoot at.
 
The Devils’ goal and the three Canucks’ goals are great examples of moving closer together as the play develops. The point men start out near the blue line, and within two passes everyone moves in tighter and ends up basically inside the dots and the tops and bottoms of the faceoff circles (or very close).
 
On the last Canucks’ goal Salo actually gets closer to Sedin for the pass so that he’s in a better scoring position and it’s harder for the defense to react. And then the Sharks get a much-needed timeout.
 
Here is a poorly executed 5-on-3 that leads to a shorthanded goal:
 
 
Crosby takes the first shot available. He doesn’t make the defense move. Park stands there, blocks the shot and beats everyone down the ice for a goal.
 
Another bad one that ends up in a shorty:
 
 
Look at the Flyers D as the Rangers shoot the puck. All stationary. No puck movement. They just blast the first available shot into the teeth of the defense and end up giving up the shorthanded goal.
 
And finally one that illustrates both a bad shot choice and being too spread out. This is actually a late-game 6-on-3 for the Jets:
 
 
The first shot just comes too quickly without making the defense move and is taken right into the teeth of the defense. Predictably it’s blocked and cleared.
 
The second and third shots you can see when the video freezes how far away from the goal the point men are. They are up there and four guys are down below the dots basically. These two guys being so far away are pretty easy to cover. Even though they get shots off, the lack of quick puck movement and lack of other players as options for them to pass to because they are so far from the net make the shots much less dangerous than when the players are more condensed and there is quick puck movement.