Fourth-liners fighting for ice time
Players must be ready to energize coming off bench
Fourth-liners fighting for ice time - Nashville, Tennessee - Thursday, 12/28/06 - Tennessean.com
Like batteries, fourth-line hockey players are charged with a specific purpose.
For the Predators, those players are to bring energy and ignite a connection between the crowd and the team with physical play, game-changing momentum and, at times, chaos.
But a battery has two terminals — positive and negative — and sometimes the energizers of the fourth line experience negative results.
They are often the first to be scratched in favor of more skilled players. They get less of an opportunity to contribute on special teams, the power play in particular.
And having to make the most of only seven or eight minutes of ice time a night can be draining.
"You have got to gain confidence out there and to do that you have to be comfortable and play the game," said Predators fourth-liner Jordin Tootoo. "I am very comfortable, but at the same time the more minutes you play the more you mature as a player, and it's kind of tough to mature when you don't play."