Bastian May Be Key To Unlocking Devils’ Woeful Power Play
The NHL’s COVID-19 break through Christmas offered the slumping Devils an opportunity to, in their words, reset, but I found the most promising takeaway from Wednesday’s 4-2 Devils victory in Buffalo in its return to action was the continuation of a tweak that began just prior to the work stoppage.
Sure, the win must have felt good in a locker room that had been in a foul mood since a 3-0 victory over Philadelphia back on December 8, and the dazzling displays from center Jack Hughes and his wing Jesper Bratt, each of whom compiled a goal and two assists, perked up the bench, but beating an equally lousy squad that was somewhat depleted with six players and coach Don Granato on the COVID-19 protocol list should temper any over-the-top enthusiasm.
However, the Devils, who have been among the league’s worst with a man advantage all season, allowing an NHL-high six shorthanded goals against, converted a power play for a second consecutive game when defenseman Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring with a one-timed blast from the high slot off a Hughes feed.
What made that seemingly small feat a big deal for me was the how, not the what. Though he didn’t receive any credit on the stat sheet for it, wing Nathan Bastian made it all happen.
Many have opined on the Devils’ power play woes throughout the reign of coach Lindy Ruff, but to me the problem was pretty clear: New Jersey did not have nearly enough of a net front presence. Their modus operandi was to set up wrist shots from the left faceoff circle—with left-handed shooters who lost valuable degrees in the angle with their sticks facing the boards. Too many times, they’d overpass and lose possession in their attempts to set up that look, whether it be trying to thread pucks through a maze of sticks clogging the middle of the ice or on wraparounds.
(Banging heads) Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Keep it simple. When you have defensemen like Hamilton, P.K. Subban, and Damon Severson who can all beat goalies from distance, get them the puck and have a horse set up in front to take away the netminders’ eyes and then hunt for deflections and rebounds. Not every play has to be tic-tac-toe.
In a 3-2 defeat in Pittsburgh on December 19 in their final game before the next three were postponed, Ruff finally gave Bastian a chance at the net front on a third period power play. Bastian, the Devils second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft who returned to the team in November through waivers after Seattle selected him in the offseason expansion draft, had skated a grand total of 28 seconds on power plays in his previous 11 games, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
So, with his team trailing, 3-1, Bastian set up shop just outside the blue paint and redirected Hamilton’s quick throw towards the net past Pittsburgh goalie Tristian Jarry. On Wednesday, Hamilton was able to shoot it through Bastian’s screen of Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (I had to check the spelling three times) as he skated across the crease.
Though you’d like to see a little more speed and skill for this A-list role, Bastian has the size (6-foot 4, 205 pounds) and puck retrieval skills to be incredibly effective. In addition to Wednesday’s non-assist screen, he won a crucial puck battle behind the net to ignite the sequence where Bratt and Hughes passed the puck to Hamilton, thereby losing out again on an assist.
On the Devils’ other power play attempt on Wednesday, the first unit that included Hughes, Bratt, Bastian, Hamilton, and Nico Hischier controlled play in Buffalo’s zone for about 1:20, had a couple of looks, but could not score. Still, Bastian has now been on the ice for two power play goals for in just 5:52 of ice time.
In case you couldn’t tell, those translate into insane goals and expected goals per 60 minutes metrics. Of course, it isn’t nearly enough of a sample size to jump to any conclusions, but this piece is more about the process rather than the results.
The net-front presence issue was obvious to me (Three Solves For Injury-Riddled Devils (substack.com) even before a hideous 17-game stretch where the Devils could only break even with the man advantage. Something had to give. The last few seasons, the Devils had often utilized wing Miles Wood in that net front role, but he’s been out all season after undergoing hip surgery. Ruff had tried numerous players in that position, including Jimmy Vesey, Hischier, and rookie Dawson Mercer, but none of them delivered the goods.
It may seem counterintuitive, but I see Bastian, a fourth-liner who wasn’t deemed worthy of protection in the expansion draft, as the key who can unlock the Devils’ skill on the power play.