Power Play Still a Priority

Behind Ziggy Palffy’s 15 power-play goals last season, the Kings were the NHL’s best when playing with a man advantage. With the core power-play players back, the Kings expect more of the same this season, but they will have to do it without assistant Dave Tippett, now the head coach of the Dallas Stars.

Defenseman Mathieu Schneider said new power-play coach John Van Boxmeer’s biggest challenge will be finding the right combination for the Kings’ second unit.

“You can see that [the Kings’ coaching staff] has been trying to get a good look at the young players and see how they work on the power play,” Schneider said before the Kings’ 3-2 exhibition loss to Colorado at Denver on Wednesday night. “We haven’t all worked together yet and you can’t really tell how we’re going to be this season until we play with a full lineup against a team playing with its first lineup.

“It’s still kind of difficult to sense what our power play is going to be like once the regular season starts, but if you look at our main guys up front in Ally [Jason Allison], Ziggy and [Adam] Deadmarsh, you know we’re going to be a force. The key is getting a second unit that can score. That will put us over the top and take us to the next level.”

With nearly two weeks to go before the Kings’ regular-season opener, it’s still uncertain which players will play on the different power-play lines.

Coach Andy Murray typically splits up his forwards to give his top power-play lines a mixture of youth and experience early in the regular season.

“A lot is going to depend on how the young guys develop,” Schneider said. “Because there are so many games in the regular season, there are going to be nights when your top unit is off. That’s why we need our second unit to be strong.... The biggest thing about your power play is consistency. You want it working night in and night out because two power-play goals could be the difference between a first-place team and a ninth-place team.

“We also know that even when you’re not scoring power-play goals, you still need your special teams to be able to control momentum the way the game is played now. That’s how we played last season.”

The Kings’ Felix Potvin looked sharp while stopping 34 shots in Wednesday’s loss, but Brett Clark and Alex Tanguay scored power-play goals for the Avalanche in the third period.

Joe Sakic added a goal and an assist for Colorado. Philippe Sauve stopped 25 shots for the Avalanche.

Schneider and Alexander Frolov scored for the Kings.

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First-year Mighty Duck Coach Mike Babcock had a group of players lined up to perform a drill to kick off Wednesday afternoon’s practice when he was reminded again to be patient with talented Russian rookie Stanislav Chistov.

Despite having team leaders Paul Kariya and Adam Oates on the ice, the Ducks’ workout did not get off to a smooth start because Chistov didn’t quite understand what to do while skating on the No. 1 line.

“Practice is tougher for him because he doesn’t necessarily understand the drill or the language,” Babcock said about Chistov, Anaheim’s No. 1 draft pick in 2001. “So when you tell him something, he has to paint himself a picture after translating it to Russian.”

The Ducks, off today, will play at San Jose on Friday and Chistov is expected to open the game skating on a line with Steve Rucchin and Petr Sykora.

“The big thing about [Chistov] is not skill,” Babcock said. “It’s about becoming a professional.... What I mean by that is the tenacity on the puck and understanding what he’s supposed to do. When you have him on the first line and they go first, but he did not have a chance to watch anyone perform the drill, that’s not a good situation for the kid. He screwed up the start of our practice today.

“But yet in saying that, we have to be patient and understand that we want skilled people in our lineup.”

Chistov, the fifth overall pick in 2001, is scoreless in two exhibition games with four shots on goal and two penalty minutes.