Colorado College went just 1-for-10 on the power play against Wisconsin. Minnesota State, 1-for-14. New Hampshire, 0-for-8. All in all, the men’s hockey team has killed 30 of 32 penalties, ranking it second in the nation in penalty kill percentage.
Although it is just six games into the season, UW’s 93.8 percent conversion rate is right around where it was last season, when it posted an 88.4 percent success rate. The Badgers were fifth in the nation in that category last season and have killed 86.6 percent of their total penalties since the 2005-06 season. Anything over 85 percent can be considered exceptional.
“Well, we kind of picked up where we left off last year; we thought it was one of our strengths at the end of last year,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. “Coach [Mark Osiecki] and [assistant coach Kevin Patrick] have done a great job at getting our group of guys, the penalty killers, to play as a unit when they’re on the ice.”
Last year Wisconsin allowed just 27 power play goals in 232 attempts, and sophomore forward Derek Stepan attributes this season’s success to experience. The Badgers return 21 players from last season’s roster.
“We didn’t really lose many guys that are on the penalty kill. Coming from last year, we know what we’re supposed to do and we have a good group of guys,” Stepan said. “We’ve got a really good penalty kill, and with the help of Coach Os and video, we can get the job done.”
The real key to a successful penalty kill is simple though, in Stepan’s mind.
“I think it’s just outworking them,” he said. “As a group of four, obviously you’re a man down, so you really got to work hard to make sure you out work every single one of their guys on the ice and get the puck 200 feet down to the other end.
“So I think that’s probably the biggest key, just to outwork the other team.”
Part of the reason the Badgers have had such success on the penalty kill is the amount of opportunity they’ve gotten. UW is third in the nation in penalty minutes, averaging 21.2 PIM per game, though Eaves said that average is “skewed” due to some major penalties Wisconsin took against Minnesota State.
Interestingly, Wisconsin is one of just two teams in the nation — along with North Dakota — to rank in the top 10 nationally in both penalty kill and penalty minutes. Stepan said those rankings show UW’s resilience — and also the need to stay out of the box.
“I would say, a little bit of both. You gotta stay out of the box, you gotta be smart, you gotta play hard,” he said. “But it also says that we’ve got guys in the locker room that, we can get the job done. If a guy takes a penalty, we can kill it off for him and he can come out and know not to make the mistake again.”
Somewhat lost in UW’s 10-goal, 96-shot domination of New Hampshire last weekend was that the Badgers shut out the Wildcats’ power play. Wisconsin looked especially good Saturday, playing aggressively on the penalty kill and not allowing UNH to get set up offensively. As a result, the Wildcats had just five total shots in its five power plays that night.
Stepan also noted the momentum that can be gained with consistently successful penalty kills. UW withstood three UNH power plays in the first period Saturday, and after killing a short penalty to start the second, promptly got its own power play and opened scoring on a Jordy Murray goal.
“It’s a huge momentum swing, especially when the atmosphere has died a little bit, and the life on the bench is a little down. It can definitely turn your team around,” Stepan said.”
“We’ve been pressuring hard, not giving them a lot of time and space to make plays, and that’s obviously what they want to do,” freshman defenseman Justin Schultz said. “We’re continuing to get better and better, you can never get too good at it, so we just keep working hard in practice.”
Practice has been important for UW, as the competition for playing time is tough. The Badgers’ deep roster has meant Eaves has had to sit players who haven’t put forth enough effort — Michael Davies was third on the team in goals last year, but was a healthy scratch against Colorado College.
And just as much as there’s competition to make the roster, there’s competition to be a member of the special teams units.
“[We’re] competitive within the group. It’s like the [whole] team, if [the penalty killers are] not doing the job, then you’re going to find yourself not doing that part of what we have there,” Eaves said. “It helps make a competitive situation, and hopefully it will keep us sharp.”
The Badgers will look to keep their success on the penalty kill going against Minnesota this weekend. The Gophers are next to last in the nation on the power play, going 1-for-29 on the season.
“You look at that and you say, well, they’re due then. They’ve got too many good players, that’s going to change,” Eaves said. “We need to be intelligent about our play, stay out of the penalty box and not give them a lot — as few opportunities as we can give them, we need to do that.”
“As a penalty killer, we know that they have lethal weapons,” Stepan added. “And we just gotta make sure we shut it down and make sure that they don’t get that chance to break out of their little slump here.”