Toews shakes slow start
BRIDGEPORT — Opening night was not the best night Devon Toews has ever spent in the AHL. Since then, he has looked a lot more like the defenseman who was the New York Islanders’ last cut before the season.
“It’d been a while since I played a real game,” Toews said Tuesday after practice at the Wonderland of Ice.
“(At Lehigh Valley, Oct. 6), I didn’t think I played that well, my first legitimate game in nine months or whatever it was. Since then, I think I really got in a good flow.”
Toews’ 2017-18 season ended after Christmas, with shoulder surgery in January. He was knocking on the door of the NHL then. He had a good chance to stick around this season until the Islanders signed veteran Luca Sbisa.
He might yet get up to the NHL for the first time. In the meantime, the Sound Tigers have used him, yet again, on the power play and the penalty kill as well as a regular turn on the top defense pair with Kyle Burroughs through the season’s first four games.
“I’m happy with him. I still think there’s more,” Bridgeport coach Brent Thompson said. “His feet are underneath him. He’s got NHL pace. He moves the puck quick, skates very well. He’s got a great mind.”
If there’s a point to improve, Thompson said, it’s Toews’ physical engagement.
“To hit and pin and eliminate the movement a little bit more,” Thompson said, “because as you know, the NHL’s a little bit stronger and a little bit faster.”
Toews said the shoulder feels good, and he has settled back into a good routine. Now he’s looking to keep consistent.
“Burr and I want to play against other team’s top lines, shut them down. We take pride in that and also adding our offensive abilities into the picture as well,” Toews said.
“You want to be consistent. We play a lot of threein-threes. It’s hard to stay consistently good in three straight games in three straight days. This is our first one this weekend. It’ll be a bit of a challenge, but we’re excited for it.”
Bridgeport has a homeand-home with Providence, beginning at Webster Bank Arena, on Friday and Saturday, then hosts Lehigh Valley on Sunday.
Toews and Burroughs have been a defense pair almost every time they have both been in the lineup since Toews turned pro out of Quinnipiac in 2016.
Bridgeport practiced Tuesday with a different look on defense, though: Burroughs with Mitch Vande Sompel, Toews with Sebastian Aho, Seth Helgeson with Yannick Rathgeb and Parker Wotherspoon with Chris Casto.
“I don’t know if that’s anything to read into or not,” Toews said. The eight of us back there are all capable of playing. Sometimes it’s nice to change things up and get a little different flow. Sebby’s a great player. It’s fun to play with him as well. Whichever way it goes, we’re just going to go and enjoy it.”