Just eight games remain on the regular season sched for the Chilliwack Chiefs and six are at home.
For head coach Jason Tatarnic it’s a chance to give his tired crew more rest before the playoff marathon starts. It’s also a chance to iron out one of the team’s biggest weaknesses.
As good as his team has been, 35-10-5-0 after weekend wins over Salmon Arm and Prince George, Chilliwack’s special teams have under-performed at Prospera Centre.
The Chiefs have the number one power play on the road, clicking at 27.2 per cent.
At home, they’re 12th at 19.4 per cent.
Their penalty kill isn’t great no matter where they play, but even that is stronger on the road (ninth overall at 79 per cent) than at home (13th at 78.3 per cent).
“It’s funny because on the road you can simplify a bit more,” Tatarnic suggested. “When you’re at home you’re pretty comfortable and sometimes you try to do too much.”
Chilliwack is going to see Langley’s No. 5 ranked power play in the first round, which could be a problem.
Everyone assumes it will eventually be Chilliwack vs Wenatchee in the Mainland division final, and that’s where poor special teams could be fatal.
The Wild have the BCHL’s top power play at 25.8 per cent and the second best penalty kill at 85.5 per cent.
“But when I look at us versus Wenatchee, the special teams battle looks pretty even to me,” Tatarnic said. “I never go by season statistics and I think you’ve got to go game by game and case by case.”
“There are just so many variables to consider, like games where you’re short-staffed or have key injuries or whatever.”
Tatarnic has mentioned 100 per cent as a loose rule of thumb for special teams, as in the PP and PK percentages should add up to 100+. The Chiefs just clear that bar at 102.5 per cent.
Coach T also knows more than most how devastating it can be when your opponent’s special team’s are better than yours.
It cost Chilliwack a BCHL championship last season.
“Give West Kelowna credit because their power play and PK was better than ours in the finals,” he admitted. “That’s just being honest.”
What Chilliwack’s doing on specials teams now isn’t what it was doing in September. And when the postseason starts in early March you can count on Tatarnic adding some wrinkles.
“We’ve looked at different things for the power play and it takes some time, but I think we have the personnel to be successful on the power play,” he said. “I also think we have the personnel to be successful on the PK.”
“We’ve been building up to the playoffs by changing our penalty kill up here and there, because I think you’ve got to be familiar with a couple different formations.”
“I think we have three different ones we can use now, so we can identify what teams are doing on the power play and dictate what works best against certain teams.”
