Blackhawks’ penalty kill rejuvenated by switch to diamond formation

Diamonds are the key to the heart — and also the key to killing off power plays, the Blackhawks have learned.

Since changing their penalty-killing structure within the defensive zone from an amorphous square formation to a diamond formation over Christmas, the Hawks have completely reversed their PK fortunes.

“We looked at other teams’ setups and wanted to give this a go,” coach Luke Richardson said. “The guys really have taken to it.”

The alteration was made during the Dec. 24-26 break, which the Hawks entered having allowed a power-play goal in eight consecutive games — tied for their longest such streak since 2007-08. They had killed only 25 of 40 opponent power plays since Nov. 19, a 62.5% kill rate that ranked second-worst in the NHL during that span.

Per 60 minutes short-handed during that span, they had allowed 134.4 shots (the most in the NHL), 85.3 scoring chances (second-most) and 10.2 expected goals (seventh-most).

Their amorphous square was technically a “piston” formation, forward Jason Dickinson said, where one player at a time would come out to challenge the puck-carrier and try to cut off his passing angles. But the piston was not exactly running smoothly.

After the break, however, the Hawks’ reshaped PK went 6-for-6 combined against the Hurricanes and Blues. Their video work with assistant coach Kevin Dean, who oversees the unit, immediately yielded fruit.

They then experienced some growing pains but really found their stride when they killed all five Avalanche power plays during an upset victory Jan. 12. That started a stretch in which they went 22-for-23 — before finally succumbing twice Saturday against the Oilers’ overwhelming power play.

Overall since Christmas, the Hawks’ PK boasts an 84.8% kill rate (10th in the NHL) and has allowed 88.5 shots (sixth-fewest), 52.2 scoring chances (ninth-fewest) and 7.5 expected goals (11th-fewest) per 60 minutes.

The diamond formation works by positioning one forward up top, one forward and one defenseman on the sides and one defenseman in front of the net.

If a puck comes loose along the boards, they can break shape to try to pin the puck, gain possession and clear it. But if they fail with that, they reassemble the diamond.

“It gives us a little bit more predictability,” Dickinson said. “It gives us an ability to dictate where we want the puck more and where we don’t want it to be. We can lock off a certain side. It doesn’t really matter to us what side we lock off, but we just know that this is the look we’re giving. It’s easy for me to read off of [forward Sam Lafferty] and for the ‘D’ to read off the forwards in this setup. We can be like, ‘OK, we’ve dictated a side. This is where our pressure is going to come from.’ ’’

Considering many teams place their most dangerous shooters on the flanks — think Alex Ovechkin at the top of the faceoff circle for the Capitals, for example — having one side locked down can make a big difference.

And it’s much tougher to find horizontal lanes through a diamond than a square, which has reduced the number of often-deadly seam passes that opposing power plays have been able to connect on.

This improved in-zone structure — combined with their league-best 52.3% short-handed faceoff percentage, which leads to many clears right off the bat — has created a snowball effect. Up the ice, the penalty killers have rejuvenated their aggressive two-man forechecking that had been such a bright spot.

“Why not take a chance and give a little pressure up ice to try to discourage them from the drop [pass] and to have a chance to kill plays at the blue line?” Richardson said. “That has worked well for us, which gives us a lot less time in the D-zone.”