Practicing the power play

Those of you who were curious whether the Devils actually practice the power play will be happy to know that this morning’s practice was dedicated entirely to it.

Players who skate on the two power-play units wore red jerseys and the rest of them wore black.

Zach Parise, John Madden, Brian Gionta, Jamie Langenbrunner (left point) and Paul Martin were on the first unit. Dainius Zubrus, Travis Zajac, David Clarkson, Mike Mottau and Johnny Oduya were on the second unit.

The Devils are scoreless in 20 opportunities over the last five games and gave up a big shorthanded goal in the first period of Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Islanders.

“We’ve got to start producing on it,” Devils coach Brent Sutter said. “It’s maybe one of the bigger factors of why our goals for is down. You score one power-play goal a night (and) it makes a big difference.”

“We’ve gotten away from what made us successful, which was moving the puck quick and guys sacrificing themselves to create chances for other people,” Langenbrunner said. “Right now, we’ve got five guys looking to shoot the puck and trying to be the guy that gets us going by scoring the goal…I think we realized that and discussed it and now the key is to put it into action.”

Patrik Elias did not practice today because of his sore groin and said it felt “not much better than yesterday”, but still hopes to play in Wednesday’s home game against Florida. Karel Rachunek (right ankle) and Jay Pandolfo (pubic bone ligament) also did not practice.

After practice the team had a group off-ice workout. Sutter said he would not have given the team off today even if the Devils had beaten the Islanders.

“Probably not,” he said. “We just had three days off (for Christmas). We would have done something today whether it was off ice or whatever.”

Near the end of practice, Sutter pulled Clarkson aside and tied a white towel around the shaft of his stick, just above the blade. “At times, he likes to skate around, using his stick like a flag pole and he might as well have a flag on it,” Sutter said.

“He was just trying to teach me to keep my stick down on the ice,” Clarkson said.

Comments

[Shari]

TG,Any news on Lappy? is He still with The AHL club? If so The Team could really use Him up with The Big Club right now, He could be very helpful with the PP or lack of. He could also be of use helping some of these Guys with their shot, too much shooting wide going on, Travis and Clarkie could use A Guy like Him right about now, just look at how much He has helped Gomez over the years with His shot. Just a thought.

[alzheimers]

I bet having Matvichuk on this lineup wouldn't help one bit. No siree, this AHL defense doesn't need no veteran presence, or anyone with experience, or leadership, or skill.

[Scott731]

29 other teams passed on Matty and his number are awful in Lowell so which is more likely, that his AHL play and all 30 NHL GMs are wrong or a few Devils fans that only got to see him play 1 awful pre-season game have a better idea of his play?

[jules]

"Near the end of practice, Sutter pulled Clarkson aside and tied a white towel around the shaft of his stick, just above the blade. 'At times, he likes to skate around, using his stick like a flag pole and he might as well have a flag on it,' Sutter said."

Hahaha, that's awesome. Sutter is too funny.

[alzheimers]

Because guys like Brookbank, Oduya, or the Islanders' new powerplay specialist Mottau are that much better?

[Scott731]

Yes, those defenseman are better. Have you even looked at what Matty has done in Lowell? Why did every NHL team decided Matty couldn't help them? Did you see his preseason performance? All those things add up to Matty not being able to help anyone in the NHL.

[DevilWorshipper]

We're not going to score very many goals with John Madden and Travis Zajac as centers on the power play. This team desperately needs to add a quality center or two that can generate offense. Madden is a defensive center and he's probably our best option right now, which says a lot about the glaring deficiency at center. Zajac is worthless offensively. It's time to demote him to the fourth line. The guy is not good enough to center one of the top two lines on the team. I'd rather see Pelley get that opportunity. And Elias, when he returns, is playing out of position at center. Instead of getting constantly criticized for lack of production, Elias should be praised for being able to help the team at center. With the exception of Parise, there isnt another winger on the team that could move to the center position and help the team the way Elias has.

Lou needs to step up and acquire a center. I'm not asking for Patrick Marleau. I'm just asking for a natural centerman. Somebody who can chip in 15 or 20 goals a season and provide 40 or 50 assists. It's time to take one of the 8 d-men and trade one for a real center. Zubrus didnt get it done at center. Zajac isnt getting it done there either. Brylin doesnt generate offense as a center, and Elias is out of position there, too. It will be a travesty if we dont add a legitimate center before the trade deadline.

[James]

DevilsWorshipper

Finding a centerman who puts up 15-40 is not easy to find. We had one in Brendan Morrison and we traded him away. We also had one in Steve Sullivan and we traded him away. We also have one in Petr Vrana, and hopefully he's not traded away and can be a second line center for us, IF zajac doesn't pan out, which it looks like he won't.

[Jason]

Nice TG! At least I know you are reading my synical rantings!

[Jason]

Well we traded Morrison for Mogilny, who helped us win a cup, and then was a member of the best team in devils history, so that one i can let slide. But Sullivan if i recall correctly, was traded away because he was "too small". And yet now we have/had players like gomez, parise, gionta, who are also tiny.

[jules]

@Jason: I'm actually pretty happy that we don't have Sully now. He's been suffering from some sort of back injury and was sitting out the playoffs for the past two seasons. Last season he was playing on the wing with Kariya and...someone else whose name escapes me, but I definitely remember that he didn't play for the end of the regular season and the playoffs. Anyway, he hasn't played at all for Nashville this season, and they keep pushing back his return date. Personally, I think he's done.

[JJ]

We all know Lou is aware of what his team's needs are, unfortunately there isn't much AHL talent to trade for a scoring center since the past few drafts have produced virtually nothing in terms of scoring forwards other than Parise. And who are you trading for anyway if you are offering one of our NHL D-men??? Unless you want to move Martin, what are you getting that's better than Zajac? He's keeping things simple and being responsible first which is what you want from a young Devil, he should come around. Vrana isn't ready yet and it doesn't make sense to bury a guy like Z on a 4th line when what he needs is ice time and experience. Let's not forget that Patty has been TERRIBLE this year. Combine that with his performance last year and I am starting to wonder what is up with the guy. He has to step it up or this team is going nowhere in the playoffs...if they make it that is.