Ivan Demidov found himself back in a third-line role with Evgeni Kuznetsov yesterday, and he had his jump back from the opening shift. On his second shift, he scored a “Demidov goal.” He stepped in over the blueline, left a defenceman flat-footed with an inside juke that Lane Hutson would have been proud of, moved to a prime spot in the slot, and unleashed a perfect wrist shot.
Demidov had been languishing on the bench for most of the previous two weeks, so when given another chance in a top-nine role, he let his coach know that he had no intention of relinquishing his spot.
He was heavy on the forecheck throughout the game and seemed to be around the puck most of the game. He also worked hard on the backcheck (see video at 2:59). Despite his solid play and production, when SKA had a five-minute power play in the second period, Demidov never saw the ice. SKA failed to score during the elongated man advantage. At one point after he’d been on the bench for about 15 minutes in the s3v9nd period, so when the ice scrapers came out, he went out on the ice and skated around to get the blood flowing in the legs and to subtly hint, “Put me in coach.”
The encouraging thing was that he had ten shifts in the third period with the game tied, including two in the final three minutes. He even had one shift in overtime, albeit very late. For whatever reason, coach Roman Rotenberg trusts him more five-on-five than with the man advantage. Demidov has not had a single power-play shift in his last seven games.
Here are highlights from the match:
