This is Maverick’s world and everyone in the NHL lives in it. It’s a world where every coach and every player has a need for speed, like they’re in a race to be Top Gun.
Take a walk along the Hudson. The Devils were once known as the trap-happy, fun-killing antichrists of the NHL, winning three Cups in nine years from 1995 to 2003.
Now, decades after being the poster team of the NHL’s “Dead Puck Era,” the worm has turned. While every team at some point has aspired to be “Heavy,” the word for 2022-23 will be “Fast.”
And no team epitomizes a dramatic change in style led by a younger generation of elite talent more than the Devils. Their game is all about speed, applying pressure, pressing it and pushing it.
Indeed, in Monday’s game at the Garden against a Rangers team that likes to think they’re fast, they’ve improved that to a 21-5-1 record, but they’re a -even though it fits one, it has become a more stylish outfit. .
“It’s touch and go for us,” Chris Kreider told The Post. “We want to play fast and we’re going to be fast when we get going. I remember my early years here and we didn’t have a lot of shooters, but we played fast because we were in the right spots and knew where to put the puck. It wasn’t easy hockey, but it was regular hockey.
“Now, when we go through the split stretches, we slow down. We want to play faster. But it comes with peace of mind.
“But tell me this? What it looked like last night.”
The Rangers took on the Devils’ fast-paced game, and after New Jersey took a 3-1 lead midway through the second period on a Jack Hughes eye-opener, They ran away and got the goal back. season.
“It’s a fine line between opening up too much and being too conservative against anybody, but certainly against New Jersey,” Adam Fox told The Post in an interview with Filip Chytil at 2:15 in overtime. after capping off a three-goal rally by the Blueshirts. The 4-3 win extended the club’s winning streak to four games.
“We want to slow them down, but at the same time match their speed if that makes sense. Simply saying “play fast” is arbitrary. We want to play the right way.”
Natural Stat Trick records rushing attempts by inferring from official NHL game sheets. The numbers are probably not good news. But as with all publicly available analytics, they clearly represent trends.
According to the website, the Devils entered the Garden with seven of the NHL’s top 26 rushing attempts, with Miles Wood tied for the lead with Erik Karlsson with 17. Defenseman Ryan Graves finished third with 14 points.
And then, with nine or more rushing attempts in New Jersey’s 27 games were Yegor Sharangovich (12), Jack Hughes (11), Nico Hischier (9), Dougie Hamilton (9) and Jonas Siegenthaler (9).
Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck tied for the Rangers. Out of four.
The Devils’ 149 total rushing attempts barely register, a full 19.9 percent ahead of Eastern Conference runner-up Tampa Bay’s 122. Florida is third with 58.
It’s like the AL home run race, with the Devils standing as Aaron Judge.
And that was the story of the first half of the game, in which New Jersey dominated by two possessions twice outside of the contest. And 1:45 later, No. 86 was alone again before being brought down by Braden Schneider after Hughes beat Alexis Lafreniere to make it 3-1. But the game took an inevitable turn when Igor Shesterkin was able to deflect the penalty away from Hughes.
Kreider turned in Vincent Trocheck’s pass from the left wing on a two-on-one play to cut New Jersey’s lead to 2-1 late in the first period before getting his own two-on-one pass to Julien. Gauthier nine minutes ago. The Rangers were able to get on the open ice.
13:38 seconds after the power play scored for a 3-2 goal, seven seconds later, he was tied, K’Andre Miller set up Kaapo Kakko with a great feed after joining – or that, was the leader? – rush off the center ice draw. It was Rangers on the offensive. That created the Rangers’ rushing attempts.
Of course, the Blue Jackets need to be disciplined in handling the puck. But Monday’s final 30 minutes should be the template. It’s good to be methodical, but Blueshirts often go crazy. No one is paying Artemi Panarin or Mika Zibanejad to get him into the safeties.
On Monday, the Rangers slowed the Devils down and sped up themselves. Maybe New Jersey is trapped.
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