Meaning of power play An attacking play in sports in which force is focused in one location; for example, one that occurs when the defensive team is shorthanded owing to penalties in ice hockey and indoor soccer. Other ball games, such as lacrosse, indoor soccer, rugby, and cricket, have a similar problem. In these sports, the use of power plays is meant to even out the number of players on each side. A power play may also be called a penalty shot because it gives a player with no time on the clock a chance to score. Power plays were first used in ice hockey. The idea was that by putting more offensive players on the ice at a time, you would get more opportunities to score while your opponents were still down a man. This would also make it harder for the opposition to defend against all-out attacks from multiple directions at once. In addition to increasing the chances of a goal being scored, using a power play is also meant to put more pressure on the opposing team's defense. If a player is able to take a penalty shot then there is a good chance that he or she will score since they are not being forced to move the puck quickly in order to get off a shot. However, if their team does not have the opportunity to use a power play then they will not be as stressed about keeping the puck out of their own net. There are several ways that a power play can be used in ice hockey.