Bastian’s Screen Assists Help Turn The Power Back On For Devils’ Power Play
The Devils began the 2022-23 campaign by going 2-for-19 on the power play, with a shorthanded goal against. Only six teams got off to a worse start with the man advantage.
In Tuesday’s contest in Detroit, however, Devils Head Coach Lindy Ruff finally relented and put big forward Nathan Bastian on the top PP unit, where he excelled as a net front presence in the second half of last season until a swath of injuries depleted the talent around him.
The Devils (5-3) have gone 2-for-4 on power plays since, including the game-winning goal by Jack Hughes in a thrilling 1-0 victory over defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado on Friday night at The Rock, New Jersey’s fourth win in their last five games.
Bastian’s name didn’t appear on the scoresheet for either of the goals, but he was as instrumental as the shooter on each of them. Taking a cross-seam pass from wing Jesper Bratt, who extended his point streak to eight games. Hughes’ left circle wrister went through the legs of Bastian and the screened Colorado goalie Pavel Francouz, who had no chance to find the puck until it was in the net behind him.
Similarly, Bastian took the eyes away from Detroit goalie Alex Nedeljkovic as Hughes bore down to the left circle off a faceoff on a Devils power play early in the second period. You could see Nedeljkovic trying to peer around Bastian’s body to find the puck, only to realize a split second too late that Hughes passed to Bratt at the opposite circle. Bratt’s one-timer found a net that wouldn’t have been that open had his teammate not set the perfect screen. The huge tally put New Jersey up, 3-1, en route to a 6-2 victory.
Mainstream stats, showing three power play goals and one assist for Bastian’s four-year career, don’t do him justice. That’s because the league doesn’t keep track of “screen assists” like the NBA. In the last season plus eight games, Bastian has been on the ice for 20 goals for in 118 minutes of power play ice time, per NaturalStatTrick.com. To put that in perspective, the numbers for Hughes, a wondrously-skilled NHL All-Star who was fantastic as a power play force until his season-ending injury, are 22 goals in 163 minutes.
Bastian’s emergence as a power play weapon came out of nowhere. He was a fourth-line mucker who wasn’t even protected during the Seattle expansion draft prior to last season. The Devils were fortunate that they were able to re-claim him when the Kraken tried to sneak him through waivers.
Bastian is still mostly known for playing a hard game along the walls and doing the little things like blocking shots (he led all Devils forwards in blocks per 60 minutes last season). Now he is again getting the opportunity to play alongside the team’s top talents.
Given my antipathy towards Ruff, I’m just shocked that he needed to wait seven games to realize that what was missing from his club’s power play was a solid net front presence and that he then made the correct adjustment. Better late than never, I guess.
The way NHL teams currently kill penalties, the man in front is often left unattended. The days where they get moved out by physical defensemen or whacked in the ankles by goalies like Billy Smith are long gone. That’s why so many power play goals aren’t of the tic-tac-toe variety but on things like deflected pucks, loose change around the crease, and screens.
It was obvious (at least to me) why the Devils weren’t getting many of those opportunities earlier in the season—they had too many guys who played the same perimeter-oriented type of game playing together. On the top unit, defenseman Dougie Hamilton was flanked by Hughes and Bratt with Nico Hischier and Ondrej Palat in the middle. Hischier plays smaller than his listed 6-foot 1 frame, so he wasn’t as effective at screening goalies as the 6-foot 4 Bastian. No one was really willing to plant themselves in front of the opposing goalie prepared to wreak havoc.
The next step for Ruff and the Devils power play is to find that sniper who can rip one-timers from a little further out than Bratt and Hughes can. The job was originally assigned to rookie wing Alexander Holtz, who scored the team’s first power play goal of the year, but his 200-foot game hasn’t developed enough to be trusted and has been a healthy scratch for four of the eight games. Yegor Sharangovich has a wicked shot, but it’s more of a heavy wrister than the quick slap/snap you need from what’s now referred to as the ”Ovi-zoid” in honor of Washington icon Alex Ovechkin.
The best power plays, though, have that moose in front of the net that is hard for goalies to contend with. Locally, think Chris Kreider on the Rangers and Anders Lee on the Islanders. Bastian isn’t in their league when it comes to skill, but he has proven he can get the job done for what his club so desperately needed.