Penguins

March 14, 2010

A versatile weapon

Wallace adds career high in scoring to physical play

By Tom Venesky tvenesky@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter
Tom Venesky on Facebook   |   TLTomVenesky on Twitter

Ask Tim Wallace to talk about his success this season, and he’d rather not.

Not that Wallace isn’t a personable guy, but he’d rather talk about his team than himself.

Still, when a player is having a career year and has recently topped the 20-goal mark, it’s hard not to talk about it.

After Saturday’s game against Albany, Wallace had 22 goals and 34 points on the season – both career highs. After spending most of the last three seasons in the AHL, Wallace never scored more than 12 goals and was known more for his punishing hits.

Despite the increased output, Wallace said he hasn’t changed anything in his game. He’s just spending more time in a different area of the ice.

“I’m just focusing on getting to the net more and battling in front. That’s where the puck is going to go and if you want to score, that’s where you have to go,” Wallace said.

That net-front focus can be partly attributed to a challenge the Penguins organization sent to Wallace after the end of last season. Signed as an undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame, Wallace came to the Penguins in 2006 and spent the next three seasons showing the organization he can play physical, manage the puck and kill penalties.

That was great, but it prompted head coach Todd Reirden to issue a challenge to Wallace.

“The message we sent was, ‘we know you can do all those things Tim, now why not score more goals within your game. Let’s take it up a notch,’” Reirden said.

Wallace did just that, averaging four goals a month this season and earning plenty of power-play time for his willingness to go in front of the net.

For a player such as Wallace who is used to dishing out hits, he was prepared to take some abuse from opposing defensemen in front of the net.

The effort has paid off lately, as several of his goals have come while posting in front of the crease during the power play.

“Every time you go there you know there’s going to be a defenseman trying to get you out, and you have to be prepared to battle and withstand pressure to get the pucks in the net,” Wallace said. “You just have to hack and whack when the puck gets in there.”

His time on the power play this season has only added to Wallace’s reputation as a versatile player. Reirden regularly uses him on the penalty kill as well and he has played him on all four lines at different points this season.

Having a player he can slot anywhere in the lineup is a huge luxury, Reirden said, especially when it’s someone like Wallace whose game doesn’t suffer with all the changes.

“He’s even gone from the first line to the fourth line in one game and it didn’t change him a bit. He just kept working and got the fourth line going that night,” Reirden said. “I’d like to have a team full of Tim Wallaces.”

While Wallace’s season has been a success throughout, there was one low point. Following a 3-0 loss to Hershey in the second game of the season, Reirden made Wallace a healthy scratch for the next game in order to send him a message.

It was a decision that Reirden admits wasn’t easy, but one that Wallace made sure his coach wouldn’t have to make again.

“It was a situation where I felt like Tim needed to go through a little bit of adversity,” Reirden said. “That’s how he made his way to where he is in the game.

“He’s been certain ever since then to never allow me to have that chance again. From that point on Tim’s been one of our top guys all season.”

While Wallace’s goal production is one factor that has kept him at the top of Reirden’s list, another element that has become his trademark has factored into the equation as well – physical play.

Wallace’s penchant for throwing game-changing hits or wearing down opponents with check after check hasn’t suffered in lieu of his increased goal production. He knows that physical play is still the key to making it to the NHL so Wallace won’t neglect that part of his game.

Besides, playing physical is fun for Wallace. It’s so much fun that Wallace doesn’t know what he enjoys more – scoring a goal or throwing a big hit.

“That’s a really tough question. They’re both real fun for me,” he said.

While Wallace has built his career around physical play, he’s done it without making regular trips to the penalty box. His highest penalty minute total so far is a modest 82 PMs in 74 games during the 2007-08 season.

The key to playing physical and avoiding the penalty box, Wallace said, is simply stick to taking the body.

“For the most part refs don’t really call that many body contact penalties,” he said. “I hate the stick penalties and the trippings. I try not to do those. I think those are stupid penalties, and they aren’t smart for the team.”

Although he’d rather talk about his team than his own success, Wallace does hope his increased goal production has been noticed by at least one party – the Pittsburgh brass.

Despite having a career year, Wallace has only appeared in one game with Pittsburgh this season. While he said the main goal of every player is to play in the NHL, Wallace isn’t bitter about his lack of trips to Pittsburgh this season.

“Pittsburgh has a plan for each player. If I just keep plugging away, hopefully I’ll get an opportunity,” he said. “Hopefully I’ve laid the groundwork for that.”

Tweet	Follow @TLsports

This story also appears on the following websites...