Defense becomes a priority
Petrovic back as part of effort to tighten up
CORAL SPRINGS — The emphasis was obvious Wednesday morning. Two days after an eight-goal barrage by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night, the Florida Panthers drilled defense during practice at the IceDen in Coral Springs.
They worked on defending the puck behind the net. Defensemen took on forwards one-on-one. They battled for pucks in the corners.
“Today’s concentration was 50 minutes of all-out D practice,” coach Bob Boughner said.
Even after practice, the defensemen were the last ones off the ice and about 45 minutes after practice ended, rookies Ian McCoshen and MacKenzie Weegar were still out there. They worked with Hall of Famer Chris Pronger, now a member of the Panthers’ front office.
Through the first 11 games of the season, the Panthers’ defense has been porous. It’s allowed 3.91 goals per game, ranking 30th in the 31-team NHL. (The only team with more goals allowed per game is Arizona. The Coyotes are 1-11-1.) Their success on the penalty kill is 72.7 percent, the third-worst rate in the league.
Despite an offense that is sixth in the NHL in scoring (3.64 goals per game), the Panthers’ nine points are only more than three other teams.
In rewatching Monday night’s 8-5 loss to Tampa Bay, Boughner said he saw “a lot of missed assignments, we’re getting spread out too much.”
“Some of it’s going outside the system,” Boughner said. “Some of it’s an individual play or a turnover that’ll lead to a chance. In order for us to move forward and beat the good
teams, we’re going to have to make sure that we obviously limit our mistakes and we had a few adjustments in tightening things up.”
Added defenseman Mark Pysyk: “There were obviously some breakdowns on the penalty kill. We watch video like that to get better. Obviously, there are some clips that aren’t easy to watch, they’re not fun to watch.”
Pysyk was on the ice for five of Tampa Bay’s eight goals on Monday night. He enters tonight’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets a minus-7, the worst plus-minus rating on the team.
“Maybe one or two games I’ve been pretty happy with,” Pysyk said. “Other than that, I definitely need to get back to playing the right way and be consistent.”
One adjustment on the way is the reinsertion of Alex Petrovic into the defensive corps, with Boughner saying the 25-year-old would play tonight.
Petrovic was a healthy scratch for Monday’s loss and was scratched for Florida’s games in Washington, D.C., and Montreal. In Saturday’s game against Detroit, Petrovic did not play in the third period, with Boughner saying the next day that he had “some points he needs to clean up.”
Boughner did not say which player would exit the lineup with Petrovic entering it.
“We need him,” Boughner said. “He’s a big, physical guy that can stop cycles in the corner and motion. That’s really what we’re looking at right now is to get some pucks stalled and get tight in our [defensive] zone and not give up as much.”
Petrovic said he needed to regain some confidence lost in the diminished ice time. “If your confidence is down, things are moving fast,” he said. “It kind of looks like you’re standing still out there. You’re kind of frozen in time. You have to be a little more loose, get a little bit more confidence.”