EDMONTON, Alberta -- Pavel Kubina admitted he had some heavy legs in Winnipeg, making his Flyers debut on the blue line.
I didnt skate for a week, so, it was a tough game for me, the massive, 6-foot-4, 258-pound defenseman said. It was a lot of fun.
Kubina logged 20:38 in ice time, of which he spent just 27 seconds of penalty killing and 45 seconds of power play time.
Our penalty killing has to be better, Kubina said.
Yep. For the third time this month, the Flyers' PK units gave up three power play goals. The PK fell from 15th to 21st in the overall NHL standings from the previous game.
This is one aspect of play the Flyers know has to get better, because without it, theyre not going to win many games down the stretch.
But the power play was good, Kubina said. I was a little nervous before the game, but it was an honor for me to put a jersey on and play for the Flyers.
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Its going to take some time for Kubina and fellow newcomer Nicklas Grossman to get immersed into the Flyers' defensive schemes. Surprisingly, they were on the ice as a PK pair during one of the Jets' power play goals.
Laviolette was asked about pairing the newcomers on the PK.
Were just touching things now, its new, Laviolette replied. Certainly, that is something they are both capable of. They block shots. Theyre physical, they know how to defend.
Both defensemen will do some video work on this four-game, 10-day road trip.
You just gotta work on it, Kubina said of systems study. The coaches are going to show me some clips and what we have to do over there.
Its about desperation and blocking shots. Do that and we have to outwork the other team on their power play. That is the bottom line.
Kubina and Grossman were obtained for their shot-blocking ability. They came here with more than 100 blocks this season.
The thinking with the Flyers is, if their goaltendersIlya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky -- cant seem to stop anything, maybe if they see even less shots than they usually do, it might help pull them out of their slumps.
Neither Kubina (three shots offensively) nor Grossman (one shot) had any blocked shots in the game. Laviolette was nonetheless pleased with their play. Grossman is paired with Andrej Meszaros while Kubina works with Matt Carle.
I thought defensively, it was pretty tight, Laviolette said. They had 25 shots, but our guys did a pretty good job of keeping it to the outside. Not too many secondhand opportunities.
Those guys Kubina and Grossman are big bodies and it shows out there. They bring a veteran presence and 500 pounds. They were good, both of them against Winnipeg.
The Flyers defeated the Jets, 5-4 in overtime. Three of the four games against the Jets this season were high-scoring. This was the Flyers' only victory.
You always want to see a low-scoring game as a defenseman, but it was a fun game, Kubina said. I had a few good shots. Its two points and that is what matters.
We played a pretty good hockey team that had been hot lately. A lot of chances, a lot of shots, over 50 shots.
Playing in Tampa, Kubina saw a lot of Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec when they were in Atlanta as the Thrashers.
He is a very good young goaltender who is playing with a lot of confidence, Kubina said. He saved them a point tonight for sure."
We were coming with a lot of chances. Their goalie made some unbelievable saves. We had so many chances. You play until the end. We score in the last 10 seconds and thats the hockey game. You never know when you will score a goal.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net.