By Yoo Jee-ho
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, Feb. 4 (Yonhap) -- Power plays in hockey may look easy enough to the untrained eye. When you have one more skater than the opponent for a few minutes, how hard could it be to score?
Apparently, it can be hard for the South Korean men's team, which hasn't scored in its past 16 chances with a man advantage.
South Korea's power play woes continued Saturday in a 3-1 loss to Kazakhstan at Seonhak International Ice Rink in Incheon, west of Seoul. It was the first of four tune-up matches South Korea is scheduled to play before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
South Korean men's hockey players gather around goalie Matt Dalton (3rd from R) after their 3-1 loss to Kazakhstan in a pre-Olympic tuneup game at Seonhak International Ice Rink in Incheon on Feb. 3, 2018. (Yonhap)
South Korea was 0-for-5 on power plays. Coached by former National Hockey League (NHL) defenseman Jim Paek, South Korea scored zero power play goals in 12 chances in three games during the Channel Cup in Moscow in December. All three games resulted in a loss.
Executing power players is much easier said than done. In the NHL, even the best teams are only successful about 25 percent of the time.
But suffering through such a drought with the Olympics only days away -- South Korea's first game, against the Czech Republic, is Feb. 15 -- isn't exactly a recipe for success.
At the Channel One Cup, the root of the problems could be traced to the face-off circles. South Korean players couldn't win a draw to save their lives. Unable to secure the puck in the opposing zone, they had difficulty establishing much offensive presence with a man advantage.
Against Kazakhstan, face-offs weren't so much the problem. The issue was with the general lack of flow. Even after a face-off win, the players seemed to be skating around mindlessly in circles.
It was bad enough South Korea couldn't convert on its power play chances. Things got worse when the team gave up a short-handed goal in the second period.
With three South Korean players near the Kazakhstan blue line caught watching the puck along the board, Egor Petukhov snuck behind everyone and skated toward the neutral zone, before Egor Shalapov sprung him free with an outlet pass.
Petukhov went in alone on goalie Matt Dalton. The Kazakh forward was denied at first but scored off his own rebound to tie the game at 1-1.
South Korea does have some weapons on power plays. Defenseman Eric Regan has a booming shot from the point and can also snap one through traffic. He led all players on Saturday with seven shots on goal, including a few on power plays. Big forwards like Brock Radunske and Mike Testwuide can set screens in front of the goalie, while smaller, skilled attackers, such as Kim Ki-sung and Kim Sang-wook, can create their own chances.
South Korean men's hockey players huddle around the net before taking on Kazakhstan in a pre-Olympic tuneup game at Seonhak International Ice Rink in Incheon on Feb. 3, 2018. (Yonhap)
But it just wasn't there Saturday. Even with a 1-0 lead in the first period, it never seemed as though South Korea were in control of the game for any extended stretch. Coach Paek attributed the team's lethargy to lack of game action of late.
"They haven't played a game in how long? You have to keep practicing in games," he told reporters in Incheon. "We got to get into the performance zone. That was a good start tonight."
Defenseman Lee Don-ku, who scored South Korea's lone goal, said the onus is on the players to go back to the drawing board and fix their issues before the Olympics.
"We should have done a better job with our forechecking and transition offense," he said. "But the important games will take place at the Olympics. Our head coach (Jim Paek) will show us what went wrong after watching the video of this game, and the players already know what went wrong."
Dalton, who was his usual sharp self to keep South Korea in the game, chimed in: "I don't think we had our best effort tonight. Hopefully, we can build on this and keep getting better here before the Olympics start."
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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