Date Published: 10-14-2022
Photo Credit: Eric Hartline/USA Today
“He is a great player, skates well, is able to make plays,” Provorov said when asked thoughts with playing with Tony DeAngelo. “Very good passer and it has been fun so far. We are going to just continue to get better.” Finally, proverb has a capable partner to lead the rush of the ice, make quick zone exits. Provorov looked more like himself last night, and it was a thing of beauty to watch.
When looking at the play of Provorov both last season and the 2020-21 season, it’s clear the defenseman wasn’t at his best, neither was the team in general. Couples with Provorov’s high ice time and usually starting his shifts in the defensive zone. It’s only going to make a defenseman who logs a lot of ice time have less than ideal statistics. We’re not even factoring that his defensive partner has been an influx for approximately two years, finally he has a true number one defenseman playing alongside him, an offensive defenseman.
“I think the last five practices have been huge,” Provorov said. “We worked a ton on our systems and everybody bought in. Tried to execute to the best of their abilities. The main change that happened over camp and this first game was you saw everyone battle, block shots, take a hit when they needed to take the hit or pin somebody against the boards when they needed to. I think overall it was a great team effort.”
Tony DeAngelo really ignited Provorov last night. As a pair, they were a plus 7 (Provorov +4, DeAngelo +3), and blocked 13 shots (Provorov 10, DeAngelo 3). Both seem really engaged, and happy to play alongside each other. Off the ice they have been getting to know each other pretty well, as DeAngelo made it a point to spend some time with Provorov off the ice getting to get to know him better. One could sense the instant chemistry between the two last night, and rarely they were handing their zone hemmed in their zone.
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The concerning thing regarding Provorov’s play last season were turnover issues, most notably difficulty breaking the puck out of his own zone. In his defense the forwards did not provide much backchecking support or get into open lanes for breakout passes. However, this was not evident last night in the home opener for Provorov for two reasons: A) He is finally playing with a partner who is good at breakouts B) The John Tortorella effect with better Puck support from the forwards.
We’ve seen Provorov have good season’s in the past, and be a stout defender. It has never been a question of talent, or working hard, it boils down to having bright partner someone like DeAngelo. Provorov is only 25 years old and his past successes show that with the correct usage and an actual top pair defender next to him he can play a very large amount of minutes and be a positive on the ice in all zones. Moving on from a defender with those abilities when Provorov has yet to play more than 4 games with Ryan Ellis who was specifically acquired to be paired with him is not very logical asset management.
