Devils coach John Hynes labelled one of his club’s biggest issues during their recently concluded 1-6 road trip: “puck management.”
In more concrete terms, the Devils’ defensemen kept turning over pucks to the other team in their own zone.
At least six of the goals against in the last two Devils’ defeats -- 6-1 in Toronto on Friday and 5-2 in Winnipeg on Sunday -- were initiated after a Devils defenseman had the puck on his tape with an opportunity to clear the zone.
A continuation of that trend against Pittsburgh (with superstars like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel adept at capitalizing on opponents’ mistakes) on Tuesday at the Prudential Center would have been fatal.
Instead, on the night when the Devils celebrated goaltender Martin Brodeur’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, they turned back the clock by playing a relatively clean game. In the process, they halted a three-game losing streak with a sorely-needed 4-2 victory.
Both Penguins’ goals were derived from the individual brilliance of Crosby. It was nothing self-inflicted this time.
“We talked about throughout the road trip of understanding when we have time and space and there’s plays to be made, that we have the proper support, and then it comes down to executing the pass and receiving the pass,” Hynes said. “And then there’s other situations where I think we’ve been able to get up and get out of our zone quicker and simpler with our forwards kind of pushing their defensemen out and get to the neutral zone and making maybe one pass or an area play where then we can get into a little bit more of a pursuit game. It’s taken a couple of games for us to get better at it -- we thought it was better in the Winnipeg game. We addressed some of those things this morning with the guys -- just the decisions of when to make those plays and when not to. That was the difference.”
Hynes also said his club went over their responsibilities without the puck. His players, he said, needed to play a more structured game, which was the style that made them such a difficult team to play against last season.
“There was a couple of things that we reviewed (Tuesday) morning, just defensively, allowing us to kill plays sooner and not get running around in our end for 15, 20, 30 seconds,” Devils left wing Taylor Hall said. “When you do get running around like that, it’s pretty hard to create offense, because you’re tired. So, I thought we did a really good job, especially our defenseman killing plays in the defensive zone, especially early on in their cycle game and that allowed us to come out with the puck, especially with possession.”
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Hall, like he has done so often since his trade to New Jersey in the summer of 2016, created all of the Devils’ offense against the Pens by recording two goals and two primary assists.
With sophomore Nico Hischier scratched for the first time in his career due to an upper body injury, Travis Zajac centered the top line with Hall and right wing Kyle Palmieri. Hall said that playing with the more defensive-oriented Zajac came with some perks.
“With (Zajac), if there’s a 50/50 battle or a one-on-one battle, you can usually cheat to the side of him winning it, because he is so strong with the puck and is always on the right side of the puck,” Hall said. “He’s never cheating on the opposite side. If we play together longer, eventually you start to see places where I think he’s going to win this battle—maybe I can take off a little bit, within reason. He’s a great player and whether he’s producing points or not, he’s so effective for us.”
Hynes sounded just as impressed with Hall’s two blocked shots as with his scoring. In fact, he thought the two were related.
“[The top line] just played a more thorough game tonight,” Hynes said.
With the forwards displaying more diligence the defensemen weren’t under siege as much. Mirco Mueller, who was scratched in Winnipeg after several substandard performances, drew back in on the top pair with Sami Vatanen. The duo often tangled with the dangerous Malkin line and held their own five-on-five.
Damon Severson, another inconsistent performer on the Devils’ back line, was noticeably more active. One of the team’s better puck movers and shooters, Severson now has 12 points in 16 games after registering a goal and an assist on Tuesday.
“I’ve had a couple of games where I had a couple of points,” Severson said. “I think it’s just a byproduct of playing in our zone so much better. When I’m out there with guys like (Hall), that have such high-end skill, I’m just trying to make the plays and trust that they’re going to get the puck to you and put passes on your tape.”
Even the Will Butcher/Ben Lovejoy third pair kept the Penguins’ scoring chances down when they took the ice.
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I never believed the Devils’ slump was coaching-related, but rather a direct result of inferior personnel both up front and on defense. Last season, Hynes found a way to masquerade those deficiencies by insisting that the club played to its identity. That message wasn’t getting through enough, which is why New Jersey is sitting in last place (with games in hand) in the Eastern Conference with 15 points in 16 games, even after turning back the clock to defeat the more talented Penguins.
The key to moving back into contention, of course, is for the Devils to play this way consistently.