from Kerry Fraser of TSN,

The majority of penalty infractions called last night were for restraining fouls (hooking, holding, tripping, interference). Most of them however were on the puck carrier. Statistics, along with my personal observation, bears out the fact that a slippage has resulted over time, in the referees’ standard of enforcement on restraining fouls occurring away from the puck. While nobody likes to see ‘ticky-tack’ penalties called, a potential increase in goal scoring could be immediate if the referees were directed to enforce restraining fouls on the non-puck carrier to a similar degree demonstrated following the first lockout.

A faster, more exciting attack would be achieved by forcing players to move their feet as opposed to hooking and holding up their opponent. Regardless of the size of the net and goalkeeper’s equipment, increased power-play opportunities would result in an immediate and proportional increase in scoring.

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added 2:06pm, from Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post,

Since the 2005-06 season, power-play opportunities have been on a rapid decline, and they’ve done so at an even greater pace than the scoring drop. During the first year after the lockout eliminated the 2004-05 season, a team received almost six power-play opportunities per game. That has since dropped to 3.24 per game, which is slightly higher than last year (3.06), but still low enough to keep the scoring rate depressed for another season.

NHL teams convert on the power play 19 percent of the time, on average, so an additional two power-play opportunities would result in 0.38 goals per team per game. That would buoy the scoring average up to 3.04 goals per team per game, a level we have seen twice in the past 20 seasons.

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