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Dallas’ power play is just awful

LindyRuff2

Amazingly, this thing where I write about a team’s awful power play, then watch it snap out of its funk is a perfect two-for-two now -- it first worked with Anaheim three weeks ago, then with Columbus two weeks ago (after going 0-for-36, the Jackets have scored nine PPG in seven games and still owe me a Mountain Dew).

So welcome to the analysis of your awful power play, Dallas.

The Stars went 1-for-6 with the man advantage in Sunday’s disappointing 3-2 loss to Florida, which capped off a five-game road swing in which Dallas went 1-for-22 on the power play.

“We need to step up as a group and find a way to score,” Jamie Benn said, per the Dallas Morning News. “It’s got to make a difference tonight in a game like that when you have so many opportunities.”

It’s worth noting this isn’t the first time Dallas has struggled on the PP. It took until Nov. 21 for the Stars to finally score with the man advantage at home this season -- a span of eight games and 26 opportunities at American Airlines.

The team also went through a ghastly slump from late January to early March where it scored just once in 26 man advantage situations.

Add it all up, and there’s little surprise to see the Stars near the bottom of the NHL in terms of power play efficiency. They sit 24th among 30 teams with a 15.5 percentage, this despite the fact they have two of the league’s top-10 scorers in Tyler Seguin (third, 82 points) and Jamie Benn (10th, 75 points).

Head coach Lindy Ruff seems cognizant of the fact that his two big guns need to be front-and-center on the PP. That’s why he switched things up a bit during Sunday’s loss, and saw positive signs for the future.

“I think after we changed and we put Jamie around the front and put two D out there, we spent most of the time in their zone,” Ruff said. “We had a lot of good luck, couple of re-directions.

“It looked like a power play again.”