Secret weapon
Preds’ Ekholm more than P.K. Subban’s sidekick
Ekholm proving he’s among the NHL’s elite in playoffs.
Mattias Ekholm’s teammates wonder why it took so long for the 27-year-old Nashville Predators defenceman to get his due.
“You ask anyone in our room, he’s been an elite defenceman for years now,” said Ryan Ellis, Ekholm’s long-time defensive partner before being replaced this season by former Montreal Canadien P.K. Subban. “If people covered our games more they probably would have seen it a lot easier too.”
Make no mistake, Subban is the engine that makes the Predators quasi-top pair go. But Ekholm, the 37th defenceman picked in the 2009 draft, has quietly emerged as a capable sidekick and secret weapon of sorts in the Preds’ quest to shut down Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in the Stanley Cup final.
“That’s going to be a key to this series is to limit their offensive chances and limit their offensive game,” Ekholm said before Game 1, a 5-3 loss for the Preds in which the Penguins were largely contained – going 37 minutes straight without a shot.
Ekholm and Subban are Nashville’s best option for limiting the Penguins scary 1-2 punch.
They formed maybe the NHL’s most effective defence pairing during the regular season. According to Corsica Hockey, the Preds generated 55 per cent of five-on-five shot attempts when they were on the ice together – a mark bettered by only Calgary’s Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton among duos that played over 800 minutes.
Ekholm and Subban completely shuttered Ryan Getzlaf in the Western Conference final (zero goals), contained Vladimir Tarasenko in the second round (zero goals at even-strength when the two were on the ice) and stifled Jonathan Toews in an opening round sweep (zero even-strength goals).
Preds coach Peter Laviolette thought it was obvious to pair Subban with Roman Josi when the former arrived from Montreal, but altered that plan after only a few games.
“As it turned out, the numbers and the eyeball all pointed to Roman and Ryan being a terrific pair (and) Ekholm and Subban being a really, really big, strong, tough pair to play against,” Laviolette said.
“They’ve been able to handle a lot of minutes and a lot of big opponents.”