John Anderson said after Thursday night’s game that there would be some changes on the power play, and there were in practice today, though they were subtle, and it remains to be seen whether the changes were due in part to Nik Antropov’s absence (he’ll play tomorrow but took the day as a “maintenance day”) or if they’re the actual power-play units.
The first unit consisted of:
Kovalchuk- Peverley- Afinogenov
Hainsey- Enstrom
Note that Kovalchuk wasn’t on the point- he set up on the left half-boards where he has frequently been effective, and he cycled to the middle and point at times to create movement, and that’s what John Anderson wants- lots of movement, and not just of the puck.
The second unit was:
Little- White- Kozlov
Kubina- Bogosian
Does that mean White is back in the lineup or was he holding Antropov’s spot? I find it interesting that the coaching staff has kept Hainsey and Bogosian together as a defensive pairing for three months but they split them up on the power play units, putting Bogosian with Kubina and Hainsey with Enstrom- pairs that have very rarely been used this season.
Anderson said today that he wants his power play units to simplify things and get pucks at the net instead of passing so much. Perimeter passing is too easy to read and doesn’t force defensive players to move, while shots cause rebounds and force defenders to react and move, and that’s where breakdowns come from, leading (ideally) to goals.
He talked about the need for his players to recognize what’s going on on the power play and adapt to it.
“You have to do what we ask when a situation comes up. Otherwise, are you a power play guy? If you’re not going to recognize advantageous situations on the power play then why are you out there?” he said.
Based on the PP units in practice Ilya Kovalchuk could be used in a different role and only on one unit instead of both, and Ron Hainsey and Zach Bogosian could see their PP time increase. Colby Armstrong played over three minutes on the power play last night and wasn’t used in the drills today from what I saw.
Anderson’s biggest frustration with Thursday night’s game was that the Thrashers didn’t make Carolina earn the win. He thought they played okay, but he didn’t think the home team did enough to dictate the style of play or make life difficult for the visitors. He wants visiting teams to have to fight for every point.
The line combinations in practice (without Nik Antropov) were slightly different from last night and more in line with what were used a week or two ago:
Kovalchuk- White- Little
Kozlov- Peverley- Afinogenov
Kane-Slater- Armstrong
Boulton- Reasoner- Thorburn
It’ll be interesting to see what happens on the ice tomorrow night in Tampa.
The Thrashers do have one open roster spot now that Schubert is on the IR (he’ll be out 2-4 weeks) and Anderson said they’ve discussed bringing someone up from Chicago, but he also said he doesn’t like sitting the guys that are here now, even though he’s been scratching a player or two almost every night all season.
“Anderson’s biggest frustration with Thursday night’s game was that the Thrashers didn’t make Carolina earn the win. ”
And my biggest frustration with last night was that Anderson didn’t pull a goaltender who just wasn’t *on* last night. He’s a good goalie, but some nights ya got it and some nights ya don’t. Pavs didn’t have it last night and Anderson left him in so long that one could argue that HE didn’t make Carolina earn their win.
Funny, Anderson’s answer is always offense. How ’bout those 4 PP goals Carolina scored? Any new PK work done today? Any change in the PK pairings or line-up? We could have won 2-1 if the PK had been effective.
And finally, wonder how Hainsey feels about being on the new “dumbed down” PP? Army should actually feel good about no longer being on the PP… after all, Coach said he was taking away the “skill”.
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I certainly hope one of the changes he insists on is getting the puck to the net during the PP.
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