Power plays in the NHL haven't been this dominant in decades.
The average conversion rate this season was 21.6% entering Tuesday night's games, according to ESPN Research. That's the best rate since the 1985-86 season, back when Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers were scoring at will against helpless penalty kills.
This season's power-play success is part of a multi-year trend. It would be the third straight season with power-play conversion rates higher than 21%, the first time that's happened since the mid-1980s.
But there's actually another trend that undercuts that dominance: Power plays in the NHL have also never been this rare.