KUCHEROV TUNES UP TECHNIQUE
Lightning star installs practice rink in his garage
Nikita Kucherov had synthetic ice laid down in his twocar garage to help him perfect the wicked shot and release that allows him to be one of the NHL’s most dangerous offensive threats.
The garage is his laboratory where the Tampa Bay Lightning star works for hours to refine technique, improve accuracy and experiment with ingenious ways to humble goaltenders. Twenty minutes a session. At least twice a day in the summer. But it’s not as if Kucherov has created a new shooting method. His formula for success is far from a secret.
“He works at his game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Time and effort. He didn’t show up to Tampa in September. He showed up in July and he was on the ice four or five times a week just working on his game. We are reaping the benefits of that.”
The Lightning ’s 5-1-1 start is rooted in several factors, including general manager Steve Yzerman’s offseason moves and Steven Stamkos’ good health, but Kucherov’s latest scoring binge is chief among them.
The Russian winger has scored in each of his team’s first seven games, joining Mario Lemieux and Keith Tkachuk as the only NHL players to do that over the last 30 years.
“He’s a special player with a special shot,” Stamkos said.
Kucherov’s shot release seems is the merger of perfect hand-eye coordination, balance and technique. The movement of his stick seems effortless and yet the puck explodes off his blade.
“It’s like a slingshot,” said Stamkos, who knows plenty about shooting a puck.
Kucherov scored twice Monday in Tampa Bay’s 3-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings and added another in Tuesday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils. He has eight goals in seven games, and all are like works of art.
“(Look) at the different ways he’s scoring goals,” Stamkos said. “He’s got two beautiful backhanders, a couple of great wristers. He’s constantly working on his game.”
Stamkos compares Kucherov to former Lightning player Martin St. Louis in the way they worked at their craft. St. Louis averaged 32 goals per season for the Lightning from 2002-11.
“With the work ethic they both had — before practice, after practice,” Stamkos said, “we shouldn’t be surprised by their success.”
Kucherov’s elusiveness is the under-appreciated aspect of his scoring touch. He creates shooting lanes with a carefully considered plan of attack.
“You don’t want to be predictable,” Kucherov said. “Always try to make defenseman (wonder) what I am going to do next. Make them confused. Use their mistakes.”
This season is a continuation of Kucherov’s brilliance last season, when he dominated in the second half in an unsuccessful effort to carry the Lightning to the playoffs. Cooper increased his playing time then, and now Kucherov plays more than 20 minutes a game.
At 24, he’s just arriving in his prime years, and we haven’t seen his best yet. He was one of three players who scored 40 or more last season.
“He scored 30, then he gets 40, and he’s not sitting around (saying) ‘I got 40,’ ” Cooper said. “He says, ‘I want to get 50.’ You like the hunger of that. But that doesn’t come easy.”
Cooper says the reason Kucherov gets 20-plus minutes is that he accepts his responsibility away from the puck.
“He works at his 200-foot game,” Cooper said. “That’s why you can put him on the ice when you are trying to protect a lead.”
By scoring against the Devils, Kucherov became the first NHLer to score in seven consecutive games to start a season since Tkachuk in 2008-09. Lemieux also scored in seven consecutive games in 1992-93.
Stamkos said Kucherov’s release ranks in the top three to five in the game today.
“And when you have confidence, it’s probably the best,” he said. “When you are on a streak like (Kucherov’s), you feel like you can’t miss. You feel like the puck is glued to your stick. You feel like anything you shoot goes in.”