I had a whole thing written up, but this tweet perfectly described how I felt coming into tonight’s game:
Since the Detroit game, the Devils have made some structural changes that have yielded a renewed focus on defense, backtracking, puck pressure, and puck support. The commitment is palpable, and we are finally getting full 60 minutes of it. Tonight was no different, and while
the big storyline heading in was the debut of Hellebuyck, the real story is how we may have a wagon here boys and girls.
The Devils have been overwhelmingly dominant in all 3 zones, defensively they have been reminiscent of that December shot suppression run two years ago, in the neutral zone they are a wall at the defensive blue line, and offensively they have a strong consistent forecheck and utilize hard rims to switch sides – relieving pressure and allowing for sustained possession.
Transition Game
One of my biggest gripes last season was the puck movement up to the forwards. Either in full-ice breakouts or short ice transitions/neutral zone regroups this team was slow and stagnant, the D would wait things out and allow opposing teams to get positionally structured and we couldn’t make anything happen.
Both of Nico’s goals were perfect examples of this, the first starting with a great job by Kovacevic and Dillon to work the puck up the wall quickly out of the defensive zone, and Evangelista winning a battle at center ice, springing Nico and Timo on a 2 on 1.
No idea why Dallas challenged for interference here, DeSmith clearly went for a swim and practically dove into Timo.
Nico’s second goal was a thing of beauty as well in transition:
This goal starts at the Devils blue line where Luke and Pesce stuffed Dallas’ rush attempt, with Nico right there for support, and sprung Timo back the other way. What a snipe form Nico on this as well, good to see him ripping the puck like this.
Offensive Zone
Where the Devils of old have traditionally needed some work was on their offensive zone cycling and puck retrievals. On their 3rd goal, every Devil touched the puck with Siegs working it down low to Gritsyuk, who cycled it back up top. This is a pretty key O-zone strategy – relieving pressure by switching sides and we finally have the talent to make this work, and what a nice little dish from Jack to Boquist.
Sometimes O-zone play can be just one guy doing some nasty things, putting three guys in a blender:
Disgusting goal, Lukey boy learned how to putt. However, this goal doesn’t happen without good work down low by Mantha and Boquist, winning a 2v2 battle, and relieving pressure back up high to Dougie.
Jack’s goal was similar, and Dano says it best: “Everyone’s in sync.” Multiple puck retrievals, multiple side switches (Bratt’s cross-ice pass to Pesce really freed up both of them). And Bubble boy walks in and does what he does best:
Neutral Zone
The Devils have flat out become menaces in the neutral zone, and frankly it is really under-discussed how important it is to win the battle there. There was a stretch in the second where we stuffed them at the blue line 5-6 times in a row, turned it right back up ice for a rush and sustained offensive zone time.
And the result? A thorough thrashing of one of the best teams in the league, who came into this game with sparkling defensive metrics and had only given up 19 goals in 11 games. On to Colorado tomorrow, which will be another test in the thin air on a back-to-back.
Some Scattered Thoughts
“What is Depth Scoring” – Boquist has as many goals in 12 games as Dadonov, Crookshanks, Halonen, Tsyplakov, Bjugstad, Glendening and Lammikko had in 171 combined games last year.
If there was one thing I would complain about? The Power Play. Tonight was the most dangerous it looked and Jack caught a post down low, but I don’t really know what the actual goal of it is. They swapped Jack and Bratt on the flanks, and I’m not really sure why they moved away from a unit and setup that has been one of the most dangerous units historically.
That’s also 3 straight games under 20 shots. Hellebuyck looked calm, composed, and swallowed basically anything that got close to him. His puck play was a bit of an adventure, but he also got tripped in the first to no call. If we can keep this up and give a HOF goalie less than 20 shots a game, and very little dangerous – we may be on to something. The only goal he gave up was on a nasty deflection, where I would’ve liked to see some harder crease coverage.
Lombardi had some uh-ohs but I still like his overall game and I’m sure he’ll see some video on the plane tonight or tomorrow morning.
Depth. Ozone, Dzone, Neutral zone, goalie. This is fun!
LGD
