There were moments in this one (corrected link) where the power play might’ve made a difference, and moments where it looked like it just might, especially the first and last ones.
But the power play is 0-for-24 now (0-for-18 since Michael Dal Colle got called back up). (It might’ve been 0-for-18 and then 0-for-5 tonight, but that Jeff Kubiak goal the other night wasn’t a PPG, one second too late.)
“I think just we’ve got to keep it simple,” Matt Lorito said. “When we move the puck quick, get shots and then recover it, I think that’s the biggest thing right now. We’re too much one-and-done. We’re getting a decent chance, and they’re just clearing it. It kind of kills our momentum.
“(Puck-recovery) leads to more scoring chances. The PK gets a little tired. We’ve got the guys who can score. We’ve got to figure out who’s playing with who. We’ve been mixing up the units almost every game, so it’s kind of hard getting some chemistry, but it’s not excuse. We’ve got to bear down, and when we do get chances, we’ve got to finish them.”
The changes are partly personnel going up and down, partly personnel going in and out as guys get rests or get scratched. It’s also partly looking for chemistry.
“For the power play right now, obviously, I thought we had some Grade-A chances,” Brent Thompson said. Is it bearing down? Is it converging to the net to get those secondary chances to put it in the empty nets, moving the puck a little quicker? Overall, I thought tonight the movement was good. I thought they were pretty intense.”
It was a fun game; the intensity looked to be there, although it almost felt at times as if, at even strength as much as on the power play, getting in a skill game like this with Toronto almost enticed guys into getting too fancy. Looking pass. Passing up shots. Trying to make an extra move.
So I kinda chuckled when I heard Sebastian Aho say this about the power play: “We’re holding onto the pucks, not taking shots, almost trying to find the fancier play it feels like. When we do get shots, we’ve got to be hungrier on rebounds. … In the third period, the power play was pretty good, aside from us scoring. We had a lot of shots and the rebounds were laying around. We’ve got to be in the right spot and get those pucks in.”
In general, Thompson said, “we need to shoot more. We need to get to the hard areas … bear down on secondary chances. I’m not worried about it. Maybe the guys are thinking about it. For me, it’s getting to the net, getting into the hard areas for secondary chances, getting into the hard areas to get in goalies’ eyes.
“The way you score in the playoffs is ugly, hard goals. You’ve always got to have that mindset of shooting the puck.”
…….
One point is better than none, etc.; and really, doesn’t matter that Toronto gets one or two, to them. If it matters in May, so be it. The first two periods were pretty solid. The third was less so, partly because the Marlies came on hard; partly, said Thompson: “They got the goal on the penalty, and then we were on our heels a bit, didn’t trust our structure, but our guys competed. I liked the way we worked.”
Josh Ho-Sang didn’t play about the last 12 minutes and overtime. His last shift included a play behind the Bridgeport net on the power play where he and Jeremy Smith missed the handoff, kicking it away to Adam Brooks, who took it to the front of the net, lost Ho-Sang and got a scoring chance. Asked Thompson if Ho-Sang was OK: “I think so. For me it was not much time left in the game, a tight game.” Make of that what you will.
Elsewhere, good news on Calvin de Haan.
Chris Drury will be the general manager for the United States’ entry at the World Championship, coming May 10 in Slovakia.
Still sort of infuriated. (Not really. But kinda.)
And RIP, Rich Pogonelski.