Penguins Notebook: Kovalchuk's versatility pays off for Devils
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NEWARK, N.J. -- It used to be all about the numbers with Ilya Kovalchuk.
Well, some of the numbers, anyway.
Mostly, goals. To some extent, assists.
Plus-minus? Uh, not really.
But Kovalchuk, a New Jersey winger who scored one goal and set up two others in the Devils' 5-2 victory against the Penguins Sunday at Prudential Center, is a different player these days.
He still generates some pretty nice offensive statistics -- 22 goals and 28 assists in 47 games -- but Kovalchuk seems to have a genuine appreciation for the value of working all over the ice.
His minus-6 hardly is gaudy, but he's responsible enough that he is used in just about every conceivable game situation, including penalty-killing.
The transformation in his game can be traced to former Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, who stressed the importance of being a two-way player and showed confidence in Kovalchuk by deploying him in defensive situations during their time together a season ago.
Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis, who was Kovalchuk's teammate in Atlanta, has noticed the difference.
"He's trying to [be more complete]," Dupuis said. "The kind of team he had before [in Atlanta], I think it was easy for him to cheat. All they wanted from him was offense.
"But now, as you get older, it's not only goals and points that count. These guys, I think they want to win. He's the kind of guy who wants to win, too, and I think he's putting the effort toward the details of his game that he thinks are going to help his team win."
Even though Marc-Andre Fleury of the Penguins stopped just nine of the 12 shots Sunday that New Jersey threw at him, there hasn't been a goaltender more adept at stopping pucks lately.
And there probably aren't many, if any, who can be worse at handling them.
A puckhandling gaffe by Fleury led to a New Jersey goal just 2:21 into the opening period, and that set the tone for the rest of the game.
Fleury ventured behind his net to play the puck, but lost it to Devils forward Patrik Elias.
"I just wanted to stop it, and it bounced over my blade," Fleury said.
First Published February 6, 2012 12:00 am
