Devils Hold Block Party In Prague
How impressive was that Devils start?
The Sabres may be the league’s perennial tease, the team that always seems to be on the cusp of a breakout but remains mired in mediocrity, but New Jersey’s two-game sweep of the NHL Global Series in Prague couldn’t have been scripted better by General Manager Tom Fitzgerald.
Of the Devils’ seven goals, five were scored by players who are new to this season’s roster, with trade acquisition Paul Cotter putting away Friday’s 4-1 victory with an empty netter and then undressing Buffalo goalie Devon Levi for the game-winner in Saturday’s 3-1 triumph. Of course, let’s not forget goalie Jacob Markstrom, who paid immediate dividends on Fitzgerald’s summer trade with Calgary by stopping 30 of 31 Sabres shots in the season opener, including an early save-of-the-year candidate on Nicolas Aube-Kubel’s backhander into what looked like an empty cage. Markstrom somehow got his paddle on it while throwing his body across the crease.
Everything went so right for the Devils in Czechia that even when something went wrong, like a series of defensive zone turnovers, the five-man unit, for the most part, remained composed. Players were throwing themselves in front of Buffalo shots. And what got through, Markstrom and Jake Allen handled.
More than anything—including the added physicality Fitzgerald was looking for this summer—this commitment to defending has the potential to be a game-changer for New Jersey this season.
The Devils finished last season ranked 29th among the 32 teams with 13.5 blocked shots per 60 minutes. They blocked 18 and 22 shots, respectively, in the two games. The latter figure was greater than the number of saves Allen was forced to make on Saturday. That might not seem odd, but guess how many times that happened last season? Trick question, because it never happened.
Simon Nemec, New Jersey’s blocked shots leader in his rookie campaign, led the way with seven of the 40 while his new backline teammates Brenden Dillon and Johnathan Kovacevic combined to chip in to knock away 10 more. Only four of the 19 skaters in Prague failed to register at least one block—and none of them were named Jack Hughes. Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian, a pair of fourth line grinders known for their enthusiasm in this area (they ranked 1-2 among Devils forwards last season in blocked shots per 60 minutes), must feel shame for being left out of the block party.
Credit new Head Coach Sheldon Keefe for emphasizing this essential portion of defending that seemed to be neglected by prior HC Lindy Ruff, who, ironically, is now manning the bench for Buffalo. Though the Devils’ execution was far from perfect, Keefe wasn’t going to use excuses like injuries to two top-four defensemen (Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce) or the shortened preseason (most Devils regulars only got in two or three exhibitions while a handful had only one) for why his club might look to cheat the game’s details.
In fact, Keefe will soon have a different—and much more preferable—kind of dilemma on his hands. Undersized 20-year rookie defenseman Seamus Casey didn’t hurt his, um, case for sticking around when Pesce is expected to return as soon as Thursday for the home opener versus Keefe’s former Maple Leafs. The high-end skating, passing and hockey IQ was on full display in Prague, with Casey also tying Saturday’s contest with a brilliant toe-dragged snipe on a second period power play.
Obviously, Casey, being waivers exempt and in need of heavy ice time for his development, will be the first odd man out. And Kovacevic, as the fourth righty, would be next in line to leave the lineup whenever Luke Hughes heals from his shoulder injury, though that’s still around a month away.
But that’s ok, because teams that block a lot of shots need depth. Putting bodies in front of pucks has a tendency to hurt those bodies. Pesce, who isn’t known as an elite shot blocker (his 4.77 per 60 ranked 91st among 184 defensemen who played at least 50 games last season), said he fractured his fibula doing just that during Game 2 of Carolina’s first-round playoff series against the Islanders. It’s taken this long for him to be able to start earning that 6-year, $33 million contract he signed in July.
Keefe might not be able to consistently rely on the depth scoring from guys like Cotter, Kovacevic, and Stefan Noesen. However, establishing an identity where a team makes it hard for shots to get through is something that can be put on repeat if the commitment is enforced from the top.