Rodrigues excels at one-timing the puck and has a shot that is both extremely quick and quite accurate
One of the biggest areas of inconsistency for the Florida Panthers last season was on the power play.
There were times it looked deadly, with Matthew Tkachuk wreaking havoc around the goal crease and Sasha Barkov majestically moving the puck around the zone with ease.
Other times, particularly down the stretch of Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, it grew stagnant, dominated by perimeter passing with little substance in the areas of the ice where it counted most.
Injuries obviously played a role in that, with several key power play contributors dealing with ailments throughout the playoffs.
Overall, though, looking at Florida’s power play, so much of its success came through the middle of the ice.
It’s why Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart scored the majority of the goals when the Panthers were up a man, the net-front guy and the bumper, who plays between the circles.
One element that has been missing from Florida’s power play is a hard-shooting, quick-release, one-time guy to stretch the defense and make the goaltender’s life that much more difficult.
The Panthers may have found that in Evan Rodrigues.
His production on the power play has skyrocketed over the past two years, one with the Pittsburgh Penguins and one with the Colorado Avalanche.
Rodrigues scored more power play goals during those two years (13) than his previous six seasons combined (eight).
So what’s the reason for the sudden success?
“I think the biggest thing for me is I really started focusing on my one-timers,” Rodriguez said Sunday. “I've gotten comfortable playing the half on that side. I've always loved playing the half walls on the power play since I was in college and growing up, but I think I really started to become more effective and more dynamic on it when I worked on my one-timer. It's a big part of my game.”
An aggressive shooter, with a lethal one-timer, in this economy?
Rodrigues may not be the biggest guy, at 5-foot-11 and 184 pounds, but the puck comes off his stick in a hurry.
He's also quite accurate and unafraid of carrying the puck into the middle of the ice.
We’ll see how long it takes for the right-handed Rodrigues to start setting up shop in the left circle when Florida finds itself up a man next season.