Senators' dramatically improved penalty kill buoying playoff run
The Ottawa Senators had a glaring weakness in the regular season, but they've rectified it in a major way this spring.
Preventing opposing power-play goals was a significant challenge for Ottawa over the 82-game schedule, and particularly down the stretch.
The Senators ranked in the bottom third of the NHL over the entire regular season and had the league's worst penalty kill over their final 30 contests.
| Senators | PK% | League Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Full Regular Season | 79.7 | 22nd |
| Feb. 10-Apr. 9 | 71.4 | 30th |
It's been a different story in the playoffs, though.
The Senators boast an 88.9 percent kill rate in 13 postseason contests, a mark bested by only the Nashville Predators among the four remaining clubs.
They've allowed just two opposing power-play goals in six home playoff games, and only three in seven on the road.
Craig Anderson has played a big part in that success.
The goaltender has a stellar .932 save percentage on the kill in the playoffs, best among the remaining starters and a major improvement over his regular-season mark of .838, which ranked third-worst among goalies with at least 40 games played.
Ottawa's penalty kill was a perfect five-for-five in a Game 1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night, and that continued a recent trend of perfection.
The Senators have killed off 12 straight penalties in the last three games dating back to their second-round series against the New York Rangers, and they're 17-for-18 in the last four.
Ottawa hasn't allowed a power-play goal since Rangers forward Chris Kreider scored with the man advantage midway through the third period of Game 4.
Few are giving the Senators much of a chance against the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Final, but as Ottawa proved in Game 1, they'll be tough to beat if they can keep stifling opposing power plays.