DEL.ICIO.USKovalchuk skates on new line
Anderson looks to shake Thrashers out of 1-5-1 slide
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, December 01, 2008
With his 50-goal scorer on a 29-goal pace and his last-place team sinking fast, Thrashers coach John Anderson did something dramatic with Ilya Kovalchuk.
He put him on a line with two forwards known more for defense than for scoring.
Jessica McGowan/jmcgowan@ajc.com
Ilya Kovalchuk practiced with center Marty Reasoner and right wing Chris Thorburn, who rank ninth and 16th on the team in points. ‘It’s good. Change it up. Whatever it takes to win,’ Kovalchuk said.
Kovalchuk practiced on Monday with center Marty Reasoner and right wing Chris Thorburn, who rank ninth and 16th on the team in points.
Anderson said the move wasn’t an attempt to send a message to Kovalchuk or the rest of the Thrashers, who are 1-5-1 in their last seven games and tied with Tampa Bay for fewest points in the NHL.
“My message is in what I said to them, not in how the lines are,” said Anderson, who promised changes after Sunday’s lackluster loss to St. Louis. “The lines are there because I think that’s how we can win.”
Kovalchuk played on a line with Thorburn and Bobby Holik at the end of last season. The theory is the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Thorburn and the tough-around-the-net Reasoner can knock in some rebounds off Kovalchuk’s shots.
Putting Reasoner and Thorburn with Kovalchuk also might help balance Kovalchuk being a defensive liability. Through 23 games, opponents have scored 22 even-strength goals with Kovalchuk on the ice, more than they’ve scored against any other Thrashers skater.
Reasoner has skated with the third line most of the season, and Thorburn has bounced between the third and fourth lines. On Monday they wore red sweaters, the uniform worn by the fourth line in practice this season.
“It’s good. Change it up. Whatever it takes to win,” Kovalchuk said. “Maybe one day I’m going to wear green. I don’t know, when’s St. Patrick’s Day?
“It doesn’t matter what kind of jersey you wear in practice. We’re all going to wear the same [tonight at Montreal].”
Anderson and Thrashers staffers said the practice colors meant nothing. Anderson also said he doesn’t plan on changing Kovalchuk’s ice time, which at 20 minutes, 46 seconds per game is tops among Atlanta forwards though 44 seconds less than he averaged last season.
Reasoner has been playing less than 15 minutes a game, Thorburn less than 10. If the line is going to stick together, both those numbers will have to go up. The combination won’t work if the Thrashers take a lot of penalties, because the more shorthanded minutes Reasoner has to play the less fresh he will be for even-strength time with Kovalchuk and Thorburn.
Beyond those logistical issues, the line looks like something out of the Odd Couple.
“I just hope he doesn’t get too nervous in trying to get me the puck all the time,” Reasoner joked. “I also hope he doesn’t become a guy who’s laying down blocking shots now. I don’t want him to change his game for me.”
Still, everybody knows the situation is serious. Kovalchuk has scored two goals in the last three weeks and eight goals all season. Last season, he entered December with 20 goals scored en route to a season total of 52. His solution for turning things around?
“It’s all about work,” Kovalchuk said. “We got our chances. I got a lot of chances every game, but I can’t score right now. I just need to work and try my hardest. It’s the easy thing to give up. I’m not that kind of person. I’m just going to go through the wall every game.
“I know they’re coming. I feel like everybody should give a little bit more. We’re a good team. When everybody’s on the same page and we played the right way we won five in a row.”
That early-November winning streak seems a long time ago. Something had to be shaken up, and Anderson came through with the Kovalchuk-Reasoner-Thorburn line. It might be an answer or it might be very short-lived.
Said Anderson, “If I don’t like it after the first period, I’m changing it, believe me.”
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