HIGGINS PLUGGED INTO RESHAPED POWER- PLAY
Aggressive forward’s promotion to first- unit power play an attempt to get gritty goals
With their power play again in the dumpster, Vancouver Canucks coaches put on their thinking caps Friday and came up with this answer: Chris Higgins to the first unit.
So maybe Higgins doesn’t have a single power- play goal this season — or last season. There’s always a first time. Maybe he has been the missing ingredient. You never know.
The Canucks’ power play is 1- for- 19 in the past seven games and the team has won just three times, going 3- 2- 2.
“Our power play hasn’t won us a lot of games lately and that’s one thing we have to get figured out,” said Daniel Sedin, understating matters before the Canucks flew to Southern California for Saturday night’s date with the Los Angeles Kings.
“I think our 5- on- 5 play has really been getting us points and we’re confident in that part of the game. But our power play needs to step up. Sometimes all it takes is a few tweaks here and there.”
Friday’s tweak was to deploy Higgins as the net- front presence and slide Ryan Kesler back to the point alongside Jason Garrison so the two can unleash one- timers, one from the left and one from the right. The Sedins round out the top unit.
The second group featured forwards Mike Santorelli, Zack Kassian and Jannik Hansen with Dan Hamhuis on one point and either Yannick Weber or rookie Frank Corrado on the other.
Canucks head coach John Tortorella wasn’t promising to actually use these combinations against the Kings but he almost always plays the way he practises. So you can bet small money on him starting this way, assuming the Canucks draw some penalties.
“Higgins has been there ( net front) quite a bit with the other group and being around the net is a big part of his game,” Tortorella said. “I’m not sure if he’s the answer. I’m not even sure if I’m going to use those powerplay groups.
“We wanted to try something different and see what it looked like. We’ll see where we go Saturday.”
The Canucks’ power play was ranked a lowly 26th in the league Friday at 14.5 per cent. Higgins is acutely aware of his responsibility and it begins by creating havoc in the opposition crease area.
“Everyone in this room could see we’re not scoring enough rebound goals, or tip- in goals, so I think getting in front of the goalie’s eyes and creating a little confusion in there is your first job,” Higgins said. “Then if you can get a stick on the puck, or get a rebound, obviously that is your job as well. But I think by creating confusion and getting them scrambling in their crease, opportunities are going to happen for everyone else on the ice.
“I’ve played that role quite a bit but it’s my first time with these guys,” he added. “Obviously, it’s a great opportunity. I hope they shoot a lot because then pucks will be coming my way. I hope they get through and I get some opportunities in front. You need to be hungry and I think if it takes staying in there a little bit longer and taking a little bit more of a beating, you have to do it.”
Tortorella lamented the fact his team has not produced enough goals in and around the crease area. At one point during Friday’s power- play drills, he bellowed at the players — F- bombs included! — about their “nice passes” but doing nothing in the blue.
“We haven’t had many deflection goals and we haven’t scored many rebound goals, both on the power play and 5- on- 5,” noted the coach. “So, yeah, we want to try and get some goals in that five- foot area. I think that will help our power play. The power play has been an inconsistent part of our game from Day One and hopefully we can get something to happen there.
“I think we’re shooting the puck more. I think one of the keys for us on our power play is Jason Garrison hitting the net. I think that’s been inconsistent. I think Kess has been inconsistent as far as hitting the net. So we’re looking to get pucks to the blue and trying to bang some things in from there.”
ICE CHIPS: The Canucks had only 18 skaters at practice Friday so, barring an outbreak of influenza, there will be no changes to the forward lines or defence against the Kings on Saturday ... L. A’s power play isn’t much better than the Canucks and was ranked 22nd ( at 15.5 per cent) before Friday’s four- game slate.