The best powerplay unit in the league last year was Washington, scoring at 25.2% with the man advantage, and they were 3.4% ahead of second place Montreal at 21.8%.

Scoring at 20% on the powerplay is pretty decent (would've been good for 8th in the NHL), but even then you're not scoring four times for every time that you do.

I understand that the Sabres Power Play isn't good, and that many of the criticisms are valid. However sometimes it seems that the fans have entirely unrealistic expectations when it comes to playing with the man advantage.

My problem with the power play hasn't necessarily been the amount of pp goals scored, but the timing. We don't seems to be able to score a key power play goal when we need to (i.e. tied or down a goal late). Perhaps this is due to the fact that the opposition is bearing down even harder in those situations, I don't know.

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Do we expect too much? Thats kind of a hard question to nail down, what is a reasonable performance to expect on the PP?

I expect that a bunch of professional athletes will be capable of playing a game of keepaway within the bounds of the offensive zone. They've not managed that all that well this year.

I expect them to be able to play keepaway, AND to have some good scheme for moving the puck around, and nearer to the goal,to get good scoring chances. They've managed that even less so far this year.

As for goals...well...the results so far speak for themselves.

So, no, I dont think we expect too much, i just think we expect MORE.

I think we are trying to expect a bit too much. You need to keep the puck to the outside and moving around and take shots when you can.

My biggest complaint is them not shooting enough and I understand you can't shoot every time, but you need to shoot more.

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I'd live with it if they could get into the top 1/3rd league wide. That's only 1 PP goal in every 5 chances basically, close to 20%.

If they did that, with their normally high PK%, they'd be in a very good place.

I don't get bummed after a nice, well played PP. If they go in, get some shots on net, get a good chance or two but still get nothing on the board I can live with it. If they go in there however and can't get sustained pressure and look silly I get pissed.

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As log as I don't have to hear 'SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT' guy, I'm happy.

Can't score on all of those chances, but as long as it moves around and keeps a good sustained pressure on the other team.

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I only yell shoot when I see an open lane and they should actually shoot

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

aye

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Hmm, i've always yelled shoot because the countless evil glares I get are priceless...

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I'm not expecting them to score on 30% of their PP and not even 25%. Like most I would be happy with something close to 20% or in the top 10. Statistically, it hasn't been so bad. But what pisses me off is that they fail to score at key times AND they often lose their momentum after a shitty powerplay. I'm ok with a PP if it keeps you going and gives you momentum, but they often looks disorganized after a bad powerplay.

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LET'S GO BUFFALO!

Top 10. With that talent, top 10 isn't asking too much, not at all. Top 5, that might be asking a little too much, however, with the talent they have it's certainly doable.

I think they might need to slow it down a little right now, and establish some zone time. Everybody is pretty quick to get rid of the puck, they need some possession time. make the penalty killers skate around like jackasses for half a minute before forcing a shot. At least then you will have a better chance at puck retrieval.

I don't mind saying that I am a master tactician when it comes to the power play. I could make millions by writing a book on it.

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that's always been my gripe. i did a column on phil's blog about it

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What annoys me is that our power play has been this ineffective for this long.

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We seem to get enough goals on the pp when it doesn't matter to amass a decent percentage so we (the team) can continue living in denial and not fix the problem.

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I've gotten to the point over the last couple seasons where I would rather us not even have powerplays. We play so much better 5 on 5. The only thing our PP does is give the other side momentum for killing it off.

Like football, a choice for the coach to decline the penalty?
Might not be a bad idea with this current roster. No, really.
Good idea Gasoline. We do play much better 5 on 5.

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Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

Excellent point CV, my question to management would be who are they going to target via trade to correct the problem if it proves to persist a quarter into the season.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

This.

I don't expect them to score on every single PP but then again, if it were to happen who would I be to complain?

A little more consistency would be nice, though.

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