Ruff’s Short Bench In Devils' Big Win At Pittsburgh A Short-Term Solution
It would be tempting to say that the Devils rediscovered the winning formula that propelled them to a 21-4-1 start during their 4-2 victory at Metropolitan Division rival Pittsburgh on Friday night.
After enduring a subsequent 1-7-1 slump, New Jersey stayed patient against a disciplined opponent, converted enough of their scoring chances, and got big saves from goalie Vitek Vanecek when needed. Their special teams were decisive, with the red-hot Jack Hughes roofing a snipe with a man advantage and the penalty killers snuffing all nine Penguins power plays. Oh, and Nico Hischier’s game-winning rush in the final minute of the second period came with the Devils shorthanded.
However, this game was littered with red flags. Devils Head Coach Lindy Ruff basically had to treat this like a playoff contest, riding his top players in a manner that can’t be sustainable over the remainder of the 82-game season, or even a significant stretch of it.
Obviously, the rash of penalties on both sides upended the typical four-line rotation, forcing a player like Hischier who does double duty on the special teams to garner extra ice time. Less defensively-inclined forwards like Jesper Bratt, Tomas Tatar, and Miles Wood saw far less action than their season averages while rookie Alexander Holtz was barely used at all, on ice for a grand total of 3:28 at five-on-five and 5:47 overall.
More worrisome was Ruff’s lack of trust in his two rookie defensemen, Kevin Bahl and Nikita Okhotiuk, who were called into service due to the injuries of John Marino and Adam Graves, New Jersey’s top performing d-men in their own zone (they lead the NHL in goals for percentage among defensive pairs that have played at least 200 minutes together this season, per NaturalStatTtrick.com, on ice for just six goals against at five-on-five in over 400 minutes).
Ruff initially paired Bahl (7:09 of ice time) and Okhotiuk (5:56) with his more established defensemen but by the second period, both players were used ever more sparingly. Okhotiuk’s shifts went from seven in the first period, to three in the middle stanza, and down to just two shifts totaling 49 seconds as the Devils were nursing a one-goal lead in the third period. Bahl, meanwhile, was glued to the bench for the entire final frame.
Both players were caught with a minor penalty, but if that was the sole cause for their benchings, Ruff would have been down to about 12 skaters. Neither was on the ice for a goal against (veteran defenseman Dougie Hamilton coughed up the puck egregiously inside the Pittsburgh blue line, sending Penguins star Evgeni Malkin in alone on Vanecek for the first score and then his partner Jonas Siegenthaler redirected a Jeff Carter cross crease pass past his own goalie after New Jersey was caught on an extended shift from killing a penalty) or even a high danger scoring chance against, with both in plus-50% Corsi territory, per NST.
Ironically, Pittsburgh was also missing two of their top-six defensemen in Kris Letang and Jeff Petry, so they called up Ty Smith, for whom the Devils traded to acquire Marino in the offseason, to make his Penguins debut. Smith ended up leading all Pittsburgh defensemen on Friday night with 22:14 of ice time. Of course, over 12 minutes came while the Penguins were on the power play, but after watching Smith struggle all last season in New Jersey, I don’t know how Pittsburgh Head Coach Mike Sullivan stood through those 10 minutes of five-on-five action without biting his nails off while Ruff was scared to death of using Bahl and Okhotiuk.
Ruff deemed the return timelines for both Marino and Graves as “week-to-week,” whatever that’s worth, so he’d better find a trustworthy solution soon, since he can’t be running Damon Severson for 30:41 and Siegenthaler for 26:53 every night. Bahl and Okhotiuk are regarded as more defensive-oriented players, so how about teaching them the art of penalty killing? Maybe then they can be used for more than a combined 1:58 on the PK?
Maybe Ruff thought he needed to stanch the bleeding after a pair of tough losses at home to NHL powerhouse Boston. Unfortunately, the NHL doesn’t allow for many nights where he can make it up to his top horses—I remember reading somewhere that over 60% of games are decided by one goal or one goal plus late-game empty-netters.
This was a solid and crucial win, but it doesn’t appear to be a reliable template for consistent success.