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Friday, 15 April 2011 12:27

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

The Lightning had one of the most dangerous power plays in the NHL during the regular season with a success rate of 20.5 percent, sixth-best in the league. But in a 3-0 defeat in Game 1 Wednesday, it only had one chance with the man advantage.

Today, Lightning forward and former Penguin Ryan Malone talked about how his team can draw more penalties, offered some insight on selling penalties and even suggested the Penguins drew a few penalties by how they reacted to contact from Lightning players.

"Just keep our feet moving and… I don’t want to say 'embellish,' but you want to let the ref know you’re taking a stick in the face or whatever. Try to do what Pittsburgh did. We learned some lessons I think and we’ll try to use that the best we can. "

Lightning Guy Boucher has made it known the team only had one power play after Game 1. Is there a benefit to broadcasting that?

"You always put it out there. I think we deserved all the penalties (in Game 1). (Dominic) Moore is called on (Max) Talbot. I’m sure Moore is not strong enough with one hand to throw Talbot to the ice. But it’s still a holding penalty. His arm is there on his shoulder. All of our penalties are penalties. We understand that. We just want to make sure if a guy cross checks my back and breaks a stick maybe I should fall down just to let the refs know."

Is there a technique to drawing penalties?

"You just want to let the refs know if you’re being held or being obstructed. If you look around the league and the playoff games last night, guys were – you don’t want to use ‘embellish’ – but letting the refs know what was going on. They’re going to call it tight, especially early in the playoffs. They don’t want anything to get too ugly. For the most part, you got to keep your moving. If we got the puck, they’re going to take penalties on us."

What's the fine line between embellishing and diving?

"That’s a good question. You see (Kris) Letang, he got hit in the head kind of with a stick (in Game 1). I know if he threw (Lightning defenseman Mike) Lundin’s stick in his face or not. He was okay. He wasn’t bleeding. He just tilted the head back. It’s not that big a deal but the refs know he got whacked in the face."

Is it easier to draw a penalty by jerking your head back with longer hair (such as Letang) versus having a shaved head (such as Malone)?

"Yeah, that would be good. (Laughs.) We lost that part. Unless you see my head snap back and my helmet go flying. You’re just trying to get any edge you can. It’s playoff time."

(Photo: Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

Comments (1)

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written by FlightlessBirdies, April 15, 2011 - 02:23 PM

Cmon Bugsy, put the tissue down and play hockey.
All the radio talking heads down here in Tampa are still crying about St. Louis' double root canal.
Its like they cant believe that 10 guys carrying long sticks of wood have absolutely no chance of accidently hitting each other.

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