The Blue Jackets are eight for their past 28 attempts (28.5 percent) on the power play. Four of Wennberg's 13 assists this season have come with the man advantage.
It's a better field of vision when he has the puck facing the whole rink.
"You see the ice differently," he said. "When I get it behind the net, most teams collapse down low. It opens up more passing space than if you're playing on the half wall.
"It's a little different read but at the end of the day you want to find someone open and give them an opportunity."
While Wennberg is second on the team in assists to Artemi Panarin's 20, the Swedish center is 14th in shots on goal with 26. Atkinson leads with 95. Wennberg has one goal for a shooting percentage of 3.8 to rank 17th, while Pierre-Luc Dubois has the best (20 percent).
Firing the puck has never been a strong point of emphasis for Wennberg going back to growing up in Stockholm.
"It's just the way my parents pushed me in sports," he said. "It's not about how many goals you get, you score, it's about being a team player and passing the puck. I think that matters a little bit more than the goal-scoring part."
Finnish forward Markus Hannikainen said many Europeans have a pass-first approach because of the wider ice surfaces.
"European leagues aren't that much north-south like grinding and going," Hannikainen said. "The rinks are bigger. We play more with the puck. The game is slower. It's definitely slower. That's why there's more time and space to do things with the puck, because you have more time.
"That develops a different type of player than the North American style."
Wennberg as a youth played a variety of sports until choosing to concentrate on hockey.
"Soccer was big sport. I played until I was 16. I was kind of a playmaker there as well," he said. "Growing up playing all these sports, it was never about getting the most goals scored. It was about winning with your team."
Hannikainen said European players take pride in their passing but whether Swedes or Finns are better passers is an open debate.
"I don't know about that but we're tougher, that's for sure," he joked.
Lucky (non) break
Blue Jackets defenseman Ryan Murray dodged a bullet but not a puck.
He hobbled off the Nassau Coliseum ice Saturday after blocking a shot by Johnny Boychuk of the New York Islanders with 11:53 remaining in the third period. Murray wore a protective boot on his left foot out of the building afterward.
Monday, he skated in practice with no problems, a major relief for someone who has battled injuries throughout his career.
"It's coming right down main street. You're right there. You're not going to move out of the way," he said. "You're hoping for the best. It could have been a lot worse.
"We got X-rays. Everything looked good. I thought for sure it was broken, honestly. I was pretty fortunate in the end."
He was not wearing the plastic shot-blocker guards over his skates at the time like some players do but he added a pair for practice Monday.
"We had some years before, but they were really bad, I hated them, so I took them off," Murray said. "I couldn't skate with them. They come over the laces a little bit and the constrict your knee bends."
The new ones are less restrictive so he's willing to try them.
