The last few games have provided plenty of goals for and (mostly) against which to look at in further detail (21 goals against and 15 goals for in only five January games). I’m only going to break down two goals though, one against the Blue Jackets during their 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders, and the game winning goal by the CBJ against the Dallas Stars. Now let’s get down to business.
Matt Martin from Ryan Strome and Thomas Hickey on Sergei Bobrovsky versus the New York Islanders
Things to watch on first viewing: Nick Foligno doesn’t stop on it and it costs him later, and where is Corey Tropp going?
1) Nick Foligno: You see Foligno on the forecheck go for a little twirl right after skating past Briant Strait at the very start of the clip above. This is less than ideal. You may remember John Tortorella screaming at Marian Gaborik in 24/7 a couple years ago to stop on a puck. That’s whats going on here. If Foligno stops on this play and immediately heads back the other way, he’s probably a few steps closer to Ryan Strome on the backcheck. Which kind of ended up mattering. Stopping and starting is much more tiring than going for a loop. It’s one of those little things that coaches probably harp on more than it actually impacts the game, but you can never tell which little loop is going to be harmless, and which little loop would have prevented a goal.
2) Corey Tropp: So Tropp is an absolute mess on this play. I noted in the screencap above, he starts off the play by coming in way too deep. The Jackets send two guys in deep to forecheck. When that happens, the third forward needs to stay pretty high, generally in the middle of the ice to take away the breakout pass up the middle, and be back to pick up whoever needs to be picked up. Tropp is circling down by the hashmarks, when he needs to be up at the top of the circles. It doesn’t sound like a big difference, but when everyone is skating hard, it is very difficult to make up those few strides. Brandon Dubinsky slows the puck down enough on the chip that Tropp can get over to it, but he can’t manage to keep the puck in the zone. From this point forward, Tropp is a complete mess. So after the puck gets past him, Tropp is in position to take Matt Martin, not quite as close to Casey Cizikas (who also has the puck), with Thomas Hickey jumping into the play behind Cizikas.
Tropp continues to hustle back, while Cizikas move wide, to spread out David Savard and Jack Johnson. Both defensemen have solid gap control and are in fine position. This should be a nothing rush. Savard would probably have been a little tighter to Cizikas through the neutral zone, but he had just come on the ice for Kevin Connauton (see the still open bench door in the above shot). However, he’s in a good spot, with good speed considering the change. If Tropp picks up Hickey, then it’s a straight two on two. If he picks up Martin, either Savard or Johnson can be aggressive in forcing the play. Instead he tries to get to Cizikas.
Before Tropp can get there, Cizikas drops the puck off to Hickey. Savard is now forced to continue backing in to account for Cizikas. Johnson is forced to keep backing in to account for Martin. Tropp continues to try and chase the puck all over the ice. He now tries to get to Hickey, but doesn’t get there in time to disrupt the pass to Strome (who should have been covered by Foligno, as noted above).
The pass to Strome turns this play into a short ice two-on-one. Johnson is now trapped between sticking with Martin (and leaving Strome wide open for a shot), or playing Strome (and leaving Martin open for a pass). Johnson fronts on Strome, going down to block the shot. It’s a very reasonable play, as Strome is the much more dangerous player of the two, and Savard could possibly help out on Martin (which would be easier if Tropp was back to help on Cizikas). Strome makes a nice pass to Martin before the lefthanded Johnson can get his stick over, and Martin makes a beauty tip. It’s a really, really nice goal by the Islanders, and one that could make for a very positive breakdown from their perspective.
So let’s talk a little about Corey Tropp on this play. He hustles in too hard on the forecheck, getting out of position. Then hustles over to almost keep the puck in Isles zone, getting there just a little late. He then hustles back to try and help on Cizikas. Tropp worked harder on this shift than every single other player. Hell, if Foligno tries that hard, he has Strome covered, and this goal never happens. However, hustle is not enough. If Tropp stayed higher initially, the puck is probably chipped out of the zone, the Jackets grab it and regroup. If he picks up Martin right away, and takes him the rest of the way, then there is no two on one at the end of it. If after realizing he won’t catch Cizikas in time, he then picks up Hickey, then the drop pass to Hickey never happens, and Cizikas probably has to try and beat Savard wide. If he sticks with Cizikas after getting over to him, it allows Savard to swing in on Martin, then Johnson can go more aggressively at Strome. Instead, Tropp skated super hard all over the ice, and never covered a single Isles play for even a fraction of a second. He might as well been going for a twirl behind the goal line with Foligno.
Kevin Connauton from Ryan Johansen and Nick Foligno on Anders Lindback versus the Dallas Stars
Things to watch on first viewing: Foligno’s puck protection, touch passes, and making the goalie move.
1) The puck protection skills of Nick Foligno: He is superb at handling the puck in tight. His play to shed Alex Goligoski is pretty fantastic. Most players moving with the puck in the manner that Foligno was as he entered the corner would have turned onto their backhand and tried to move back around the net, possibly to set up a cycle. Foligno’s ability to maintain control in tight like that allowed him to counter the other way. Goligoski was hedging that Foligno would try to move deeper, and was left on the ice after checking air. Foligno does this all the time, it’s a big part of what makes him a successful player. Most NHL players would start a cycle in this position, but his puck skills in tight gives him a second option. He’s unique and unpredictable, which helps create space.
2) Touch passes: This is something you see more often on Blue Jackets powerplays (think Cam/Hartnell in the middle of the box), but a quick touch pass in a different direction can really screw with the defending team. One of the cool things about this goal, is multiple quick passes. Scott Hartnell makes a quick, one-touch pass to Foligno to start the play. These types of passes are something Hartnell does quite often actually, as he is very good at using his body to hold off people just long enough to one-touch a pass in another direction. This play here gave Foligno the space he needed to move into the corner, fooling Goligoski into misplaying the angle. If Hartnell holds the puck longer before passing to Foligno as he skates past him along the boards, it changes the angle at which Goligoski would come at Foligno, but it would also mean Ryan Garbutt would be arriving to help on the puck sooner. Goligoski left Hartnell to chase Foligno, but had Garbutt been deeper when the pass was made, he might have been the one checking Foligno, which obviously would have changed how this played out.
3) Making the goalie move: The next touch pass is a beauty from Ryan Johansen to Kevin Connauton. Look at what the Jackets do to poor Lindback on this play. He doesn’t have time to really make sure he’s in position after hustling back from playing the puck. Then he has to quickly move post to post after Foligno’s cross-ice pass to Johansen, then Lindback has to immediately square up to Connauton in the middle of the ice. This goal just flat beats Lindback, as at some point along the way he lost track of where exactly he was in the net. This is what is so great about quick passing. Make the goalie move back and forth and back, and they really lose track of where they are. It’s one of the more difficult things about playing goal that I don’t think people generally think about. It’s pretty tough to move around a whole bunch, and know exactly where you are, down to the inch, without being able to ever look behind you, or even down at the ice. Quick passing, and especially touch passing is really good to exploit this, especially for someone not super awesome like Lindback.
The Jackets continue their homestand tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. Let’s hope they can flip the last few games around and pick up some necessary points before we head into the All Star break.
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