Danny DeKeyser - Detroit Red Wings - November 4, 2013
After Niklas Lindstrom retired I wasn't too sure about how good Detroit would be. You have to admit those are some gigantic shoes to fill. While the team is still one of the oldest in the league, some of their youth in the pipeline is starting to make appearances on the roster. 23-year-old Danny DeKeyser is 39 games into his career as of November 4th but he sure is starting to answer the bell:
The Red Wings are knotted up in Winnipeg and chest-high on a Penalty Kill. Stephen Weiss takes an offencive zone draw against Brian Little and wins it cleanly back to Niklas Kronwall at the left boards. Kronwall immediately sends the puck to DeKeyser who has shifted from the high-left slot to high on the blue line in the middle of the ice. DeKeyser winds up and slaps a one-timer past Al Montoya. Bing, Bang, Boom, as they say.
This is pretty much why faceoff wins in the opponent's zone is so important. Detroit drew this play up and executed perfectly. Weiss wins the draw and motors straight to the front of the net. Danny Cleary positions at the top of the circle and ties up the forechecker heading for Kronwall. Kronwall doesn't hesitate for a moment on the pass and DeKeyser delivers on the finish. It does help that Montoya is out of position as he does anticipate the D-to-D pass but doesn't push far enough across the crease to position himself for a save. And the snipe goes top shelf, right where mom hides the cookies.
Tom Wilson - Washington Capitals - November 5, 2013
A large part of why Washington has had a good deal of success this season is the Power Play. In 86 opportunities the Caps have netted a league-leading 21 goals, good for a second-best 24.4%. In case you were wondering, out of 69 goals total thus far, they are getting 30.43% of their tallies on the man-advantage, which is ridiculous. Here's rookie Tom Wilson getting in on some of that sweet action:
The Capitals have an offencive zone face off against the Islanders and are looking to exploit the Isles' horrible coverage. Mikhael Grabovski wins the puck back and Alex Ovechkin pinches up from the blue line to take control. Not only does nobody come out to challenge Ovi but not a single Islanders player challenges Grabovski or Wilson, both of whom make their way through the slot while the white sweaters are fixated on the puck. Ovechkin picks the perfect moment to send a wrister through the Islanders' box to Wilson skating to the net who deflects it past Evgeni Nabokov.
I can't tell if this is a set play by Washington or not because of how bad the Islanders' coverage is. Matt Donovan gives Ovechkin space to make the play, Matt Martin abandons Marcus Johansson and doesn't pick up anyone else, and Casey Cizikas allows Wilson to come in behind him to find the seam Ovi was looking for. Matt Carkner is the only player on the kill who turns his eyes from the puck but by the time he does Wilson is receiving the pass. Even though the game was a blowout, there is no excuse for this breed of breakdown.
Mark Arcobello - Edmonton Oilers - November 5, 2013
If you play for a bad team a good way to get two points, or even your first career goal, is against a team that also isn't very good. Prior to this game, Mark Arcobello had collected 10 assists but somehow hadn't found the back of the net. Well there must have been something about playing in Sunrise, Florida because he potted two, including his first one here:
The Oilers are on the rush with the game tied at 1. Boyd Gordon gains the neutral zone and chips the puck up the boards to a streaking Arcobello. Arcobello collects deep in the Florida end and turns towards the net without a challenger coming to cover him. Jacob Markstrom covers the post and puts his blocker down, anticipating a centering feed. Ryan Whitney starts to come over to offer some pressure but Arcobello had lifted a shot by the time Whitney finds himself anywhere close and the puck soars over Markstrom's shoulder and pops the water bottle on top of the net.
I don't have the proper camera angle so I can't tell if Florida is making a line change or not but that is the only logical excuse I could think of for why Arcobello was completely behind the defence. It's not a good excuse, but it's all I got. Still that was a beauty of a shot by the 25-year-old as he found that small space where Markstrom wouldn't be able to make a block.
Taylor Fedun - Edmonton Oilers - November 5, 2013
*Sigh* Is anyone else getting sick of me prefacing Edmonton players? We get it, Oilers, you aren't very good, you have a lot of young kids on the roster, hey look here's a goal:
The Oilers wasted no time getting back on offence. Tom Gilbert of Florida fires a shot that Ales Hemsky blocks. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sweeps around to collect the puck and leads the charge up the left-wing side. Jordan Eberle comes to meet Nugent-Hopkins and has a step on him so the Nuge defers and heads to the centre with defenceman Taylor Fedun coming up the right. Eberle draws Brian Campbell to his side and slides the pass to Nugent-Hopkins. Nuge dekes on Markstrom before getting the puck to Fedun, who finishes the play just 33 seconds after Arcobello notched his marker.
This is a great read by Fedun all the way back in his own zone. As a defenceman, Fedun could have stayed back or went for a change instead of joining the rush with his teammates. With Hemsky on the ice from blocking the shot Fedun made the correct judgment and it appears that it paid off. The rest was excellent passing and Fedun found the right spot at the right time. Great job on Nugent-Hopkins as well as his jump on the rebound made this scoring chance happen. Who knows, maybe Edmonton will have the time to right the ship, eh?
Manny Malhotra - Carolina Hurricanes - November 5, 2013 *
This goal has an asterisk beside it because Manny Malhotra is not an NHL rookie and this is not his first NHL goal. I did want to take this opportunity, however, to share this moment with you all, for those who aren't familiar with him.
Malhotra was drafted in 1998 by the New York Rangers and has since seen action in Dallas, Columbus, San Jose, and Vancouver. Not known as a goal scorer or even so much as a play-maker, Manny made his claim to fame as a faceoff specialist. On March 16, 2011, Manny Malhotra was struck in the eye from an errant puck in a game against the Colorado Avalanche. He promptly underwent two eye surgeries and was all but ruled out for the rest of the season.
Manny Malhotra shockingly made a return that season for six out of the seven-game series Vancouver played against Boston in the Stanley Cup Final. The 2011-12 season was when things started to really get worse for him. While he dressed for 78 games, the veteran good for 25-35 points per year was limited to just 18 and was a career-worst -11. Malhotra's vision was certainly suffering.
In the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, Malhotra played in 9 games and didn't register a single point before being placed on injured reserve and removed from the lineup for the remainder of the season. Vancouver lost confidence in him, the same year his contract was set to expire.
Malhotra went unsigned throughout the summer and things started to look bleak for the 33-year-old. Then on October 3, two days after the NHL season commenced, Manny received a professional try-out contract with the Carolina Hurricanes organisation which would see him start with their AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers. On November 1, Manny Malhotra was called up to the Hurricanes, and two games later he shook a monkey off of his back that had been growing for almost 20 months:
It is overtime in Raleigh and the Philadelphia Flyers are in transition through the neutral zone. Mark Streit has the puck and is coming up the middle when Malhotra stands him up on his approach to the blue line. Ron Hainsey collects the puck in his zone and sees Malhotra streaking in the opposite direction. Hainsey connects on the pass and Malhotra has a breakaway towards Steve Mason. Malhotra has to fight off back-pressure from Braydon Coburn and Sean Couturier but gets a backhand shot off straight through Mason's five-hole. Adding to the catharsis of the moment was the fact that this goal sealed the game up for the 'Canes.
Malhotra's story is one of dedication and perseverance which is why I feel he deserves recognition for not just his career but his comeback as well. As fans we've been blessed to see Sidney Crosby regain his place atop the league after a concussion and then a puck to the face as well as Josh Harding battle through multiple sclerosis to become one of the most compelling young goaltenders today. Yet we also haven't been treated to returns by Chris Pronger, who also suffered an on-ice eye injury, and Marc Savard, who received a concussion in 2010 and hasn't played since before the Bruins won the Cup in 2011. This just goes to show how tough NHL players are on the ice and how deeply they love the game.
Hampus Lindholm - Anaheim Ducks - November 6, 2013
With the injury to Sheldon Souray it seemed like the Ducks blue line would be missing a key piece to their success. Well as the calendar turned to November, Anaheim had proven they were still a force in the Western Conference as they sat at first in the Pacific while dressing for a Wednesday matchup against the Phoenix Coyotes. The emergence of Hampus Lindholm is starting to be a big factor in Anaheim's strong showing:
Embedded video unavailable, full game replay can be found at http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2013020229
Goal begins at ~0:40
The Coyotes are breaking out of their zone as their goal-scorer Shane Doan has the puck. Doan whiffs on a pass and Devante Smith-Pelly is quick to collect in the neutral zone. Smith-Pelly chips the puck out to Mathieu Perrault who is up on the two-on-one. Perrault sees Lindholm joining the rush and sets him up with a pass just above the backchecking Doan. Lindholm quickly pulls it in and makes no mistake on the wrister.
If I was playing in this league I would be absolutely terrified of what Anaheim has in their system. Last season we found out what Nick Bonino, Kyle Palmieri, and Andrew Cogliano could do in depth roles. They added Jakob Silfverberg, Dustin Penner, and Perrault in the offseason and aside from Silfverberg's injury those moves are making GM Bob Murray look like a genius. And to top things off Smith-Pelly, Lindholm, forward Emerson Etem and defenceman Cam Fowler are all 21 years old or younger. Hold on to your hats, hockey world, because this is just the beginning.
Mark Borowiecki - Ottawa Senators - November 7, 2013
The Senators are getting a firecracker on the blue line this season as Mark Borowiecki (spoken as Bore-Vee-Yet-Ski) is starting to see the most games of his career. While he will probably see as many minutes in the penalty box as he will on the ice, you have to appreciate it when players like this actually do contribute on offence. Here he is, scoring the first of likely very few:
The Senators are working the perimeter deep in the Canadiens' zone. Bobby Ryan on the left side passes behind the net to Clarke MacArthur who swings around to the right. MacArthur spies Borowiecki sliding into the middle of the ice at the blue line and gets a complimentary shift from the Canadiens defence that opens a clear lane to the point. MacArthur gets the pass off, Borowiecki orients his body, and he rips a wrist shot through traffic and over Carey Price's blocker.
This was an off night for the Habs as they let in four unanswered after opening up the scoring for the night. Even though they were applying pressure in their own end, they were still giving the Sens a lot of free time to locate options. The lack of communication was most apparent by P.K. Subban and Travis Moen, who converge for a soccer-style blocking line after mixing up coverage in deep. Even a guy who doesn't score much could find the twine with a look like that.
Adam Almquist - Detroit Red Wings - November 7, 2013
As evidenced by Danny DeKeyser, the Red Wings are slowly working in younger players onto their blue line. While their defence core isn't as far north in age as the offence, it still helps to give the new kids valuable experience in full-blown NHL situations. Adam Almquist only has two games of experience with the big club but it was in his second that he racked up a valuable 18:35 in ice time and scored this tally:
Todd Bertuzzi finds the puck in the corner of Dallas's end and sends it behind the net for Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg gets some stick checks from Brendan Dillon but keeps his body positioned to maintain possession. Almquist is pinching from the blue line into the slot and sneaks behind Ray Whitney to receive Zetterberg's pass. Almquist one-times the shot through Kari Lehtonen's legs and into the back of the net.
It seems like teams with the puck deep in their own zone have trouble defending against potential scoring opportunities. Once their backs are turned to the blue line, the players away from the puck are mesmerised by the play and neglect to acknowledge their surroundings. Now if it was really as bad as I just made it sound then NHL scores would start reaching the heights of basketball. However, very rarely does a team score when the unit on defence does everything right and it is sometimes the small mistakes that have the big consequences. TL;DR - head on a swivel, Whitney.
Nick Holden - Colorado Avalanche - November 10, 2013
The Colorado Avalance are off to an unprecedented start and, so far, aren't looking back to last season's dismal finish. While they forward group seems set pretty much for life the main concern entering this year was their defence. While it doesn't lend much to whether they've actually made improvements in their own end or not, newly acquired defenceman Nick Holden is already having a career year in points:
The Avs are in deep in the Washington zone and Gabriel Landeskog intends to keep it that way. He eludes Mike Green behind the net but has to double back in order to free himself from coverage. Landeskog finally breaks free and comes back around to the left side of the net when he sees Holden coming in from the point. Holden one-times the backhand pass past Braden Holtby's glove and breaks the 1-to-1 tie.
If you have been following this entire series, you might be noticing a common theme develop with defencemen scoring goals. A small handful are able to rip it from the blue line and see it go through but most of these younger players are relying on misdirection from the offence in order to jump into the play. While it is effective, it should be noted that these are high risk situations and a small margin of error could send the puck in the opposite direction on an odd-man rush. Still, scoring goals, especially at this level, is not something that can be taught no matter what position. Nick Holden went undrafted and had to work his way up through the ranks, so to get his first goal in the big leagues at 26 years-of-age was worth the risk.
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