Devils must find answers on penalty kill

One of the concerns the Devils must have entering their first-round playoff series against Carolina is the Hurricanes' power play.

The Hurricanes went 7-for-16 on the power play against the Devils in their four regular season meetings in 2008-09. Defenseman Anton Babchuk scored four power-play goals in the teams' last three games -- two in the Devils' 3-2 win on Saturday and two in a 4-2 Carolina win on March 18.

Devils coach Brent Sutter admitted his team needed to work on its penalty kill, but would not get into specifics.

"There's things that we'll work on," Sutter said."I'm not going to tell you, but there's things that we certainly have to do a little bet job at and we'll make some adjustments."

Although the Hurricanes finished the season ranked 18th in the NHL with a power-play success rate of 18.7 percent -- the Devils finished 15th at 18.9 percent -- their power play improved considerably since Paul Maurice took over for Peter Laviolette as head coach 25 games into the season.

In their first 25 games, the Hurricanes went 15-for-116 on the power play (12.9 percent). Since then, they are 55-for-160 (21.2 percent).

Babchuk scored nine power-play goals and defenseman Joe Corvo had eight, so the Hurricanes do get a lot of production from their points, but Eric Staal led the team with 14 power-play goals and Tuomo Ruutu had 10, including the winner in a 2-1 victory over the Devils on March 28. So, you can't just cheat to take out the Hurricanes' point men.

"(Babchuk) has a hard shot," Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "He's got a long stick and he gets it through. (Joe) Corvo is similar and (defenseman Joni) Pitkanen is a guy that moves up and down that wall. So, they have different views of their offense from the back end that we'll need to pay special attention. But when you say that you have to be careful. You have (Erik) Cole. You've got (Sergei) Samsonov. You've got (Ray) Whitney. You've got Staal. You've got a lot of players that can make plays down low, too. You just can't take everything away.

"You have to give up a shot. You've just got to make sure it's not in the prime scoring area. What I'm talking about with the prime scoring area is the dots. Anything that's inside the dots makes it tough to react for anybody. You have a lot of deflections, a lot of screens, unwanted screens from your own players sometimes because you're giving up these chances. So you have to keep them to the outside as much as possible." 

Another thing worth noting is that the Hurricanes drew a league-high 374 power plays this season while the Devils had a league-low 307.

"We have to stay out of the box, one," Brodeur said. "That's something that's a main thing. But I think we have learn. We'll look at tapes and how the got to us. If I remember, (they scored) a lot of similar goals. So, it's important that we take away some of the strengths that they have, what they like to do and their tendencies. That's what the playoffs are all about, studying your opponent and what they're going to do.

"They have skilled offensive guys on their back end and that makes it hard. And they shoot the puck really well. We haven't talked about what we're going to do, but I'm sure there will be some tweaking from what we did in the regular season. That's what I expect.I'm the goalie, so I'm the last one to know what's going to happen until the puck comes at me." 

"We're definitely going to spend some time over the next couple of days going over that," defenseman Bryce Salvador said. "The most important thing is we've got to keep the shots to the outside. That's what we want to do, try not to let them have the middle."

It would also help if the Devils draw more power plays for themselves. That probably won't be easy, though. The Hurricanes were shorthanded only 301 times this season. That was the third fewest in the NHL

"I think we talked about this early on," Sutter said. "When we're moving our feet and we do good things (the Devils draw penalties). We're playing  a team here in the first round that doesn't take many penalties. They're a pretty disciplined hockey team and we've got to be as disciplined. We've got to make sure we're not taking bad penalties. Drawing penalties in today's game, you have to be moving. You have to be skating. You have to do things." 

Why do the Hurricanes draw so many penalties?

"They're a quick team," Sutter said. "Their forward group is as skilled as any group in the league. So our awareness has to be very good."

***

The Devils haven't had a lot of success playing at RBC in the playoffs. In fact, they have lost their last six postseason games there, including three in overtime. They are 0-4 all-time in overtime games in Carolina.

What makes it so difficult for the Devils to win there?

"I don't know," Brodeur said. "It's definitely a smaller building than other places. In the playoffs, some of the years we played there it was a loud place. I don't know how it's going to be this year, but with the end of the season they had (a 12-game home winning streak and nine-game winning streak overall was snapped on Thursday) I'm sure the fans are into it. I don't know. You're on the road. It's tough to win on the road."

The Devils are also still looking for their first playoff win at Prudential Center. They went 0-3 at home against the Rangers in the first round of last season's playoffs.

***

Sutter didn't have a lot of time to talk to the media today because he had to take part in a conference call with the NHL at 1 p.m. It's annual thing the league does with all of the coaches before the start of the playoffs to go over rules and regulations.

Comments

[RickyM2]

They might wanna start to go harder for SH goals. Teams on a PP tend to look distracted when they have to split their priorities... I know its a tough thing to accomplish. But if the PP team knows you are playing it safe on a PK, they tend to smell the blood... As for who needs to be on the PP.. I would like to see Pando in. I like his thrust when he smells the opportunity, he has the confidence and the courage to make something happen. (IMO)

[Zorin]

@RickyM2

I posted this, but it didn't go through. Pando has 2 career PP goals (1, in 98-99, the other in 03-04 and both in the reg season).

I guess it's worth a try. But the Devils need to be quicker on the PP and just stop with the long passes to the blue line for shots. Get some quick passes and shots going. We all know this needs to happen, wish the coaches could write up some new PP moves.

[RickyM2]

He also had a key SH goal against the Rangers in December. He nailed the same shot against Tampa after Shanny's penalty shot. I like his eyes. I think he is due. he showed the effort. On the flip side, i wouldnt be shocked if tehy put Holik in, and he has more shots on Brodeur than the entire Carolina team combined. I think he just doesnt care. He has his 1 year contract and only played partially with his "injury" now he's probably pissed that he has to play longer tahn he expected to. He acted as if he tried to sabotage our game with his relentless penalties. Maybe Im just a bit bitter when i see guys making the big bucks and being lazy and cocky. I said it before. If Lou wants to send a real message, he should start stopping payments on their checks (I know its not possible, just a wish)

[bing]

Get more aggressive on the Penalty Kill...Force them to make mistakes or to move the puck...not just set up shop in our end!

[TG]

The Devils finished tied for third in the NHL in shorthanded goals with 12, so it's not like they don't go for shorthanded chances when they have them.

[frankied]

It is so frustrating watching the Devils PK. I've said it a million times, THEY ARE TOO PASSIVE. They stand around waving their sticks hoping to intercept a pass. Their only hope of getting possession of the puck is if the other team shoots the puck on net and the rebound magically bounces to a Devil. They need to watch the Flyers PK... how they pick their spots when to be aggressive and pressure the puck handler. Not everyone is a good stick handler under pressure. You give them a little pressure and they cough the puck up.

[Captain Fun]

TG...I know our lines and PP but what is our 1st, 2nd, 3rd PK unit...Obviously Pando/Madden and I guess White/Mattau, but what's next. If Elias is double shifted how does that impact the PK? I can't remember us having such a poor penalty kill. Please resolve. Thanks

[Devilnut!!!]

The penalty kill is really struggling right now. I can't remember ever seeing this team be so passive. It's almost as if they want to rely on Marty so much that they don't put pressure on the other team. I can's see Sutter making a drastic change to the PK unit for the playoffs, so we may have to hold our breath during each PK.

[Frankie D]

That is what is sad, Devilnut. Sutter probably won't change a thing about our PK this late in the season. I hate to be a pessimist but I can't see how to PK holds up against the Carolina PP, let alone if we advance, Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin...

[lets go devils]

the devils are being way to passive on the penalty kill. with the box formation they use babchuk will get wide open blasts from the point, and so far the've gone in. So the devils need to take him out without compromising the defense down low. I think their passivity in the defensive end accounted for the losing streak in general, because they were spending way to much time in their own end. The defenseman were just chipping the puck away from the guy their defending, but no one was going to get the puck and carry it out of the zone.