The Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves in a predicament that has become all too familiar to them: their power play is struggling to convert.

Prior to Saturday’s games, the Leafs sit 31th in the NHL with a conversion rate of 11.8% with the only teams behind them being the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes. For a team with as many gifted weapons up front as they have, it is unfathomable for the Maple Leafs to be performing at a worse rate than the Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators, and New York Islanders.

It’s true that the Leafs have historically operated as among the top 10 teams in the league on the man advantage. Last year, the Leafs were off to a slow start in that department and ended up in ninth place by season’s end. Past precedent will lead to the conclusion that the Leafs could eventually work their way out of it, in the absence of a certain 102-point winger. But it is difficult for the Leafs to get chances in games to put their power-play to the test and find their way when they are struggling to draw penalties to begin with.

The issue of the Leafs failing to draw penalties and get power play opportunities has been prevalent since the early days of the Auston Matthews and William Nylander era. Since both made their NHL debuts in the 2016-17 campaign, they rank 30th in penalties drawn per 60 and 29th in power play opportunities per game. Why this has been the case over this span of time is difficult to say, but this has been a problem that has persisted with Berube at the helm.

To Berube’s credit, he isn’t making excuses about the lack of power play opportunities and said it is a matter of the Leafs executing on the chances they do get. But deep down, one can imagine he would prefer that his team get more calls drawn in their favour and, in turn, get more time on the power play.

For that to change for the better, the Leafs need to continue to embrace the philosophy that Berube has instilled in the players by playing like a tenacious team that is heavy on the forecheck and hard on pucks.

The Leafs spent the first bit of the season not following his orders, and instead had mostly one-and-done chances that quickly led to them being hemmed in their own zone. Failing to generate meaningful offensive possession for lengthy stretches of time contradicts the north-south style of hockey that the Leafs are trying to be, and it’s hard to draw calls in the offensive zone when you barely have the puck for more than a few seconds. Then it ends up going the other way and they would be hemmed in for lengthy stretches of time before the Leafs themselves would be the ones committing the infraction that forces their penalty kill units to be utilized.

When they are playing more to the style that Berube wants them to play, which has been more noticeable in recent weeks, that presents better opportunities to draw calls in your favour. The Leafs at their best are a heavy forechecking team that will be grinding out puck battles and keeping opposing teams at their heels. That means being hard on pucks, getting in the face of the opposition, and having that extra push to win races or to keep the cycle going.

What separates them from a team like the Florida Panthers is that the latter’s approach makes the opposition so frustrated that they will take a penalty in a failed attempt to neutralize the threat. It’s no coincidence that the two-time Stanley Cup champions have consistently, been among the NHL leaders in both possession time and penalties drawn. Having the puck more means the other team is chasing the play, making them more likely to be called for an infraction and putting your team on the man advantage.

Drawing more penalties and getting more chances playing up a man doesn’t fully guarantee the power-play will suddenly become lethal again, but having more opportunities goes a long way to keeping the top guys in a rhythm. It’s hard to build on the success when you have one power-play have a few good chances, go a lengthy stretch of time without another, and then they are failing to get much going by the time they do.

By playing a style that invites the other team to take more infractions that go in your favour more often than not, it gives the man advantage a better chance to get in a groove and continue building off the success of their previous attempts.That can be achieved by playing with more ferocity and heaviness on the forecheck, wearing down the opponent with extended cycles, and making them chase the play instead you having to play catch-up. In other words, play Berube-style hockey with more regularity and there is a decent chance the power-play opportunities will be more in your favour more often than not, which, in turn, could help bring life to the man-advantage unit.