Where once was the promise of greatness, there now are examples.
It’s not Trottier-Bossy, Gretzky-Kurri, but some of the plays Patrik Elias and Ilya Kovalchuk have made lately for the Devils are reminders of the wonder combos of the past.
With Zach Parise, they form a super line, but coach Pete DeBoer is mostly keeping Elias and Kovalchuk on separate threesomes for scoring balance. Still, it’s a formidable force he can unleash at will, a tactic that requires an answer from opponents, one that can be expected to be seen in the playoffs.
They do combine regularly on the power play, and it’s there they’ve formed a new partnership, hands across the sea, passes across the slot. It didn’t always work that way, but with the urging of the coaching staff, Kovalchuk began looking for that feed from the left point to the right circle, and surprise, surprise, the puck returns to him.
With his first hat trick with the Devils in Tuesday’s 4-1 victory in Buffalo, Kovalchuk has finally surpassed Elias in points this season. It was a double give-and-go between Elias and Kovalchuk that provided the wow factor that night.
As the Devils play to the Ducks at Prudential Center this evening, Kovalchuk is playing at better than a two-point-per-game clip in February and has five goals and 10 assists for 15 points in his past seven games. His teammates have noticed those assists.
“He looks for the pass more than he did last year, no question,” Elias said. “But last year, maybe with the pressure of signing, and being the player he was, and is, maybe he felt he had to do it the same way he did in Atlanta, by himself.”
Elias acknowledged that, in the past, some Devils weren’t exactly thrilled with a power play that revolved around Kovalchuk’s one-timer, or his tendency to stick-handle instead of pass.
“I don’t think we were happy about it at certain times, but it’s a learning process for him,” Elias said. “You have to give him credit for the way he’s changed in different situations compared to last year. Defensively he’s playing better, in our zone he’s better, and he’s relying on the guys a little more, too.
“There are good players here, too. There’s strength in numbers. The kind of player he is will take over, and it does. But he has to trust the guys around him, and he does, more and more.”
More and more, Kovalchuk’s promise is morphing into something greater. Two years since he arrived in New Jersey, teamwork is making better.
* DeBoer said Adam Larsson’s lower back bruise is really a bone bruise. … The Devils stand 20-8-3 in their last 31 games. … Martin Brodeur is expected to start tonight. … Marek Zidlicky was expected to be scratched by the Wild last night, further fueling trade speculation. His agent confirmed that Zidlicky would waive his no-trade to come to New Jersey, but said there has been no such request from the Wild.