Kovalchuk Looks for His Moment

One day into the Stanley Cup playoffs and you can see players who quietly lead, and also those who are filled with passion, trying to do everything but pull the team bus into the lot before games.

Ilya Kovalchuk of the New Jersey Devils belongs in that last group. In a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night in Newark, Kovalchuk's desire was evident in his skating, as he hopped between forwards and changed gears, trying to find some space to play his game.

The rush above was the most vivid example of that effort. And if you caught a look at his facial expressions at any point of this game, you could see someone playing to prove something, if perhaps only to himself.

Two of his fellow countrymen play with this kind of style, that of a 3-year-old on belly full of Sugar Smacks and a full night of sleep. Alexander Ovechkin can and will try everything. He will shoot, pass, score and hit some more. Full of jump that guy.

Another is Alexander Radulov, who used to play for the Nashville Predators before skipping Tennessee to play in the KHL with Salavat Yulaev Ufa. When Radulov was playing with the Quebec Remparts in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, you could count on him to play on the edge. Sometimes over that edge.

The downside of all this is when nothing is working. The energy is there, but the magic isn't. And they don't measure energy on the scoreboard, only production. And that is where Kovalchuk is coming up short so far.

Prior to Wednesday night, he had had four playoff games with the Atlanta Thrashers (and those might be the last four that franchise has if nobody gets that house in order). That's it.

But Kovalchuk gets what this spring means to him, in terms of status if not money as a free agent this summer. That energy is building.