In Kubina, Flyers finally have a righthanded shot from the point

EDMONTON - Before Tuesday night's win in Winnipeg, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette warned his troops about the lethal weapon on the Jets' blue line in the form of Dustin Byfuglien's slap shot.

Byfuglien ended up burning the Flyers in the first period with one of those blasts.

But Laviolette also realized that he may now have a similar threat in newly acquired defenseman Pavel Kubina - and it's one that the Flyers haven't had in nearly a decade: a righthanded shot from the point.

The Flyers haven't had a righthanded shooter on defense since Eric Desjardins.

"He's got a big shot," Laviolette said. "That's a big guy out there. I know him more [than fellow newcomer Nicklas Grossman], just because he's been in the Eastern Conference. And I know he can shoot the puck. Hard."

Laviolette just slightly whet Kubina's appetite on Tuesday night with 45 seconds of extra-attacker time. Kubina rarely played on the power play in Tampa Bay this season, averaging just 1:17 a game. That would put him 14th on the Flyers.

But his power-play time is expected to rise significantly, to add a secondary punch to a power-play unit that has scored 20 goals in its last 23 games (21.7 percent) since Jan. 1.

"Whatever they need from me, I'll be there," Kubina said. "I'm still learning. The coaches will work with me and show me clips. They were really smart with me, I hadn't skated in over a week."

Overall, the Flyers' power play entered last night's action ranked fifth in the league. When you take away an awful 0-for-13 hole in four straight games from Feb. 7-12, the power play has added at least one goal in 10 consecutive games.

Kubina is a proven scorer. In 2008-09 alone, he scored nine power-play goals for the Lightning. Put in perspective, Claude Giroux and Jaromir Jag have just six power-play goals each this season.

Kubina, 34, has 54 career power-play tallies - more than his 51 at even strength - as he puts all 258 pounds of his 6-4 frame behind his shots.

Is a righthanded shot from the point an overrated feature?

"I think there's something to the fact . . . if you don't, you lose the one-timer," Laviolette said. "Having a gun back there helps. When he's not shooting, you need to see what else is opening up . . . you've got [players] popping in . . . Pick your poison."