The Hockey PDOcast - The Devil Is in the Details

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

Shayna Goldman joins Dimitri to talk about the first five games of the Devils vs. Rangers series, how New Jersey turned things around after going down 2-0, and things New York can do to respond now themselves.This podcast is produced by Dominic Sramaty. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the HockeyPedio cast. My name is Dimitri Filipovich. And joining me is my good buddy, Shana Gola. Janeh, what's going on? Hey, you know, enjoying the KS of the playoffs, right? That's right. Yeah. And I'm really enjoying this Devils Ranger series in particular. And that's what we're going to focus on here today. You know, it's remarkable how much can change in a week, right? just like how significantly different the optics of this series are, if we had done this after the first two games, compared to the tone of the conversation we're going to have now

in the current situation where the devil's up three, two, after a very commanding performance and win at home in game five. You want to take a game by game? Because I think I've seen it lumped like games one and two just lumped together because of the result. And then games three and four lumped together. And then game five, it's kind of on its own. But I think there's an interesting story.

to tell sort of the progression of the series throughout that. And I think just because the results were the same in those blocks, maybe the way the teams got there wasn't necessarily. So I think it's kind of interesting just to tell the story of the series, kind of how they went game by game. So let's start with game one. It was tough, right? I think you could visibly see the devils were nervous.

I generally like, it's not, um, try to avoid the psychoanalysis and like getting into the headspace of how the players are feeling and everything. But just watching that game, I think it was impossible. with all the questions we had about the Rangers experience first, the devil's, young players kind of experiencing this for the first time, playing at home with the expectations of potentially

even being the better team in the series. It was pretty clear that they were sort of feeling the nerves in the opener. Sorry. Yeah, no, there was no question about it. Like, so I think the thing is too with the devils, like they're going into the postseason with the style that typically, most generally speaking, most traditionalists will tell you doesn't work, right? and it's a narrative and I think it's only a narrative but sometimes like people can run with it

and that does a rush-based offense work and that we know that's the devil's calling card you know it was on the regular season they're only above average off the cycle but they thrive the best rush-based team in the league this year and I think it's so easy for teams to be like well if you look at Florida last year you can't do it and just leave the conversation at that I think if you tie that to the fact that they're an inexperienced team trying to play that style I think that's kind of where their problems were in the first two games because I think a team can very easily get overwhelmed by it and go, we're trying to go against the green. You know what? It's not working for us. And immediately panic and immediately change their game. And honestly, to change their game,

I would say is dumbing it down because I think that there's a smart way to play that grinding physical playoff style. But when you just go, okay, we're going to hit, you have yourself a problem. Yeah. And I think that in the first two games, if I got my numbers correct here, they only got like 40% of their shots on target, or shot attempts on target. And I think maybe that's a bit of a manifestation of, of those nerves as well. And particularly in game one,

I thought like they just, they played very recklessly offensively. Like every time they got the puck in the zone, instead of just like taking a calm approach of like, all right, we're very skilled, let's just play a game from the regular season and try to work it to our skill players to then create for us.

Everyone that was getting it was just like frantically throwing it on net as if they were working against a, you know, an expiring clock. It was like every single shot was like a last second scenario where they were just freaking out. And that kind of worked right into the hands of the Rangers. I think the Rangers, if you're going to play that way are going to be very, very comfortable. They're like, all right, we have a good defensive structure.

And Igor Shisirkin, we'll just live with that all day. And so I think that's where those problems arose. I think game one was nerves. I think game two was just a pathetic performance by the devils. And part of it was coaching fueled as well, right? I think they overreacted to what happened in game one, as you mentioned. And so they're like, all right, we're going to take off our top pair of defensemen and Jonas Seagenthaler and put in Brendan Smith. We're going to bump Miles Wood up the lineup, even though both guys lead our team in a rate at which they take penalties throughout the regular season.

And then both guys take a penalty in that game and the Rangers power play punishes them. And so that's why I wanted a different between those two because I think game one was like very easy to explain or like not that surprising. But then after 82 games of success playing one way, for whatever reason, they just. just totally malfunctioned and decided to go a different route in game two. And I think the scoring chances were like 19 to 6 or something in that game for the Rangers and Jack Hughes at four of them for the Devils. I mean, that was that was about as bleak of a performance as I can remember, which also almost makes where we are now all the more impressive.

Because I think you never want to overreact to one game, but after seeing those two games in succession, like I was, I have to admit, I was pretty worried about the Devils outlook at that time. Yeah, it was like, mix of everything going wrong in game one and then the poor adaptability in game two. And like for the Devils 2, like you look at it in the regular season they hit at almost 19 hits per 60.

I think only the Ducks and the Sabers hit less. Games 1 and 2, I think they were around 41 hits per 60. And like, yes, small samplers, small samples are going to amplify those results, but it's super clear what the message was in game one and even more so in game two with the lineup adjustment. Someone like Brendan Smith at this point in his career is not bringing. you speed and pop. He's bringing you physical play, grit, grind, things like that, and of course, penalties. Moving up Miles Wood, who was one of the worst players in game one to the third line

and absolutely tanking that third line. That is, you know, it's a poor coaching decision without question. So it's not surprising, you know, game one evolved into game two when you think about the inexperience of the devils and even the old school mentality of Lindy Ruff to a point and and the fact that it's Andrew Burnett, who if we go back to the Panthers from last year, the team that was successful playing one way all year and flipped a switch in the playoffs and, you know, changed everything that made him successful. And it did start back with them at the deadline. But that was the head coach, the head coach who didn't have the answer on how to readjust.

The difference here is they did readjust. They did find their strengths again. So it's very different. But I have to give credit to the Rangers too because it wasn't just the devil's playing poorly. I think what started everything was the fact that the Rangers had a commitment to defense that they didn't have all season. Like the Rangers' problems defensively were a thing throughout the year. They weren't totally horrible until around the deadline.

And some of it was self-inflicted because of their lineup choices of at times 5D, 11 forwards, Ben Harper playing top six minutes. All of those things really came to a head. Plus Ryan Langerin's absence. But even when he was healthy, the team did struggle a bit defensively and did struggle to find their structure. Enter game one and game two, the commitment to defense was completely different to clogging the middle of the ice to using your stick instead of just diving in front of shots. And look,

shop blocks can be effective, but so often we see those desperation plays that make great highlight, but they take you so far out of position. It's the same with goaltending. When you see this incredible lateral safe, sometimes you have to go, why did you have to make it in the first place? It looks flashy, but you have to remember they went out of position. The Rangers were proactive, which I think is important because if you go too far out of position against the team that has all the speed in the world, you might bring yourself behind the play and they were super smart about their positioning, their gap control. I think only two, Cam did the tracking and it was so nice to share it with me. I think of all the targets for

Lingren and Adam Fox in Games 1 and 2, only four altogether got past the two defensemen and led to a scoring chance for the devils, which is exactly what they couldn't want to happen. And they were smart stick plays to avoid them. They're from the forwards to a commitment to defense from players like Zabanajad and Tarasenko and Kreider, I think that really put the devils into a panic. But then you go to game three, and it's a completely different story. It is. So yeah, definitely I'm with you,

credit to the Rangers, I think, whatever existing potential issues or flaws the Devils had going into this series, the Rangers sort of expedited that process and shined like a bright light on it with their preparation and their tactics in those games, certainly. They were, depending way more aggressively, they were daring the devils to play a game they don't want to play, right?

And then they were forcing them into all these low percentage shots and all of that was working. I think also I have some theories for what's changed here, but I'm curious for your take. Like what, as the series moved to New York then, as we went to game three, what changed in that way? How did the playing conditions improve for the devils? Because even though they did win game three, I think the way games three and four looked were different to my eye, right?

Like I think especially the first half of game three. when the Rangers were still up 1-0. The Devils weren't creating a lot of chances. It was looking very similar to the first two games in New Jersey. And so while they did wind up winning that game, I think the series really shifted from game four on in these last two games, but they still found a way to win that game through. So I'm kind of curious how that came together and sort of what seeds were planted

to kind of help turn their fortunes around, I guess. Yeah, I think that there's a couple things. I think one, having a power play goal was important to them because like as much as the power play isn't something you can rely on. Yes, this postseason is different. If you get a power play opportunity, most teams are cashing in, the devils don't have great power play. But when you're trying to play a rush-based style,

I think having the confidence from your power play is going to impact you at even strength. And then again, I know, boring, broken record, but if we go back to Florida and look at how they tried to play that style and the fact that their power play didn't work, I think that affects players at even strength as well. It has to shake your confidence at a certain point. And I think that's true for the devils. So even though it wasn't their top unit that had the first power play goal, it was their second unit, I think that helped. I think Jack Hughes getting the penalty shot at the end of game one wasn't nothing either because he got on the board and you could see him slowly get back into gear.

But the biggest thing for the Devils in Game 3, it wasn't their offense. The Rangers were still four checking really well. The Rangers still had, you know, more a little bit more pop, you know, than the Devils offensively, which isn't saying much. The difference was defense in game three. The devils all the sudden remembered how they played defense all year, and it's completely different from what you saw in Games 1 and 2. You saw pressure. You saw protecting the blue line.

You saw them looking for those turnovers. The difference was from the regular season, it wasn't leading to a ton of scoring chances. They still really weren't creating much from that. But the fact that they could keep the Rangers off the board was a stepping stone for them. And that's how I viewed this series. Games 1 and 2 were just absolutely terrible. And then each one was a building block to the next one. You saw them progress in a way each way from three to four to five, which is why they're in the position that they are.

It was smart coaching. They tweaked the lines. They pulled Miles Wood out. They focused on, you know, balancing the lines a bit. Andre Palat is someone who has a great playoff reputation, right? We think of him with Tampa Bay with clutch plays and he can grind it out or he can help you off the rush. He can do it all and he can come to play in the pressure moments, having him in a key role. Those are the smart plays that you make.

And it just seems like they figured out the right balance of their lineup. And I don't know, putting in one of the best shutdown defensemen in the league who helped them all season was another key to it. So it just felt like all of a sudden they realized they needed to stop whatever they were doing in games one and two. They stopped hitting as much too, which is super important means, you know, generally speaking, you're hitting. You don't have the puck. And they just kind of like got it together and started to stabilize their game, which allowed them to do what they did in game for. Yes. And in game four, it opened up for a little bit for them.

they had their best offensive game in the series, right? I think they had like 3.64 or something expected goals generated. But game five was the interesting one to me, and it's the one that's most kind of fresh in my mind since we just watched it last night. That was like their best defensive performance, right, to build off what you're saying, to go up in the third period, they enter that period, up 3-0, you're thinking, all right, coming out of the intermission, if the Rangers have any sort of push here, it's going to happen early.

We know how score effects work. generally you see at least a little bit of pushback there. And the Devils just absolutely did not give them a single inch of ice to operate with. I think the Rangers wound up with two shots on goal in that entire period, just we're not able to. All the attempts, two takes block. It was about as dominant as a defensive performance, given the context in particular, as you're going to see. And Ray Ferraro made a great point hammering this home on the broadcast on ESPN, where he was kind of talking about how, you know, for all the attention and deservedly so that we pay to how,

how smooth skating and playing fast leads to creating offense off the rush in particular for the devils. The way they use it for the purposes and the utility of defending in terms of chasing after the puck, in terms of limiting time and space and pressuring you and then turning those turnovers into those rush opportunities is huge. And even watching someone like,

you know, we're going to talk about some of these individual performances like Hissier and Hughes and even Meyer, but watching in this series the past couple of games, someone who's really stuck out to me from that perspective is a guy like Michael McLeod, right? Where it's like a very underrated guy lower on the depth chart, but seeing the way he uses his speed to just give Rangers forwards fits

every time they get the puck and then quickly turn it like a one and done and then go back the other way and create something yourself for your team. That's been really cool to watch. And that's kind of, I think, why we got the result we did in game five. And it was about as good of a defense performance as you really are going to see. Yeah, like the strength of their game, we're going to talk about the rush base. offense and the offensive pop and everything like that. But the key is that they don't keep,

they don't make their goaltenders do a ton, which is really good for them because throughout the year, you know, throughout the last few years, how many times do we say, well, if they could get an average goaltending? Well, if they could get at least this. And they had it in the regular season and part of it is because they protect their net, they're, you know, protect the net really well because it was all proactive play in front of it. So that certainly helps. It's, it's a high pressure type of play that, you know, they put on. And it's interesting because no matter the score, state, and this was true in the regular season, they dominated play. They could be behind in games. They were very good at coming back. We saw it on the score sheet as well. Some teams are just really

good at, you know, turning it up for score effects, but don't have the results. They had the results to match. They're also a very good team at piling it on that you could see as games progress, how, you know, the goal differential tends to trend up. And it's because they play this, you know, defensive style that you wouldn't think. When you think of a rush-based team, again, you're going to think of a team that gives up a lot and, you know, creates a lot. That's not the case year. Do they sometimes mess up their puck retrievals and it leads to scoring chances against? Absolutely. There's still things to hammer out. There is with pretty much any team unless you're like last year's Colorado Avalanche, but, you know, stepping stone, they can get there eventually.

I think if they keep up with this at a little more dimension and have a little bit more like versatility in their game, but they're getting there. It's this mobile defense that plays so well. And it's the forwards and the defense contributing to it versus a team with not a ton of foot speed that got slower at the deadline. And this was the thing with it. I think if we're going to talk about the Rangers, right? And anyone could say, well, they needed scores. They needed this. They needed that. I think, I thought it. Then I think it now, this is not just, well, now that I've seen them in a Ranger uniform, they went with forward in Tarasenko, who still has some footspeed, isn't perfect defensively, but it's fine. They didn't need a second forward who is

more defensively and doesn't have the foot speed. And they knew there was a very high chance that they were going to have to take on the devils. You can't play in your deadline around your potential opponent, but you do have to go, will this genuinely drag down our play? And we're seeing how it is, despite the way he can come up in big moments, Patrick Kane's footspeed isn't where it needs to be in a series against the devils and not on a top line with Mika's Vanjad, who's going to take on top competition, who in this case has been a lot of Niko, he's here. Well, and it makes sense, I have so many ranger's thoughts.

Let's save them for a second here and just finish off on the devil's side of things. It makes sense why the defense would have slipped in the first two games as well, because I think if you're feeling the nerves, the moments, you're feeling a bit big for you, you're probably, you're getting tense, you're not skating as fast, the feet aren't moving, and then all of a sudden that totally neutralizes everything that we're talking about, the devils use to thrive defensively in terms of their foot speed and tracking box down and pressuring and all that and everything just stagnated. Ray also made another great point on the broadcast where we were talking about how, because of the slower foot speed of the Rangers, the way they typically attack, especially

with Panarin and Kane is they want to stretch the ice out east to west, right? Like they're not necessarily pushing forward as much. They're trying to make skill plays on these cross-ice long passes. And the idea of that is good, but unfortunately, when you're playing a team that's skating as well as the devils have the past couple games, they're able to get to all those things, right? So against most teams, I think they have the advantage where they stretch you out, they make these long cross-ice passes, and they catch you out of position.

but the devils pretty much from lines one through four through all three other defense pairs can track those pucks down and not really miss a beat and not be caught out of position. And so I think stylistically that's been a bit of an issue for the Rangers as well offensively that's tying into this. Now the devils are skating much better as a team. Yeah, absolutely. And the thing that the devil's have in their back pocket too is if for whatever reason their defense wasn't quick enough, they have an option to slot right into the lineup on that

third pair to take it up a notch if they saw fit. And, you know, I know there were a lot of questions after game one and two, like, why isn't Luke's playing? And I think it makes sense, you know, from games three, I don't agree that you can't change your lineup after a win. I don't agree with that at all because you can always get better. But I understand after game three, the way that they started to progress on defense, that they didn't do it yet for game for.

And we see how it played out. But the fact that they had that in their back pocket, too, at any point in this series, they could add another burst of speed to their back end. It just shows, you know, the strength that's. this team has and they knew it all along. They knew they didn't have to add it, you know, at the deadline on defense. And you could look at it and say, well, you thought you were going to move forward with Brendan Smith. I think they always knew, you know, they knew last year that Luke Hughes was spending one more year and then they'd see how things progress. They have the defensive depth down

down their lineup. You have Damon Severson on third pair. That's, you know, depth on the right. They have options on the left to play it up to their strengths if they needed to even more. The Rangers can't say the same. If anyone gets hurt or goes down, something like Ben Harper are coming in. They don't bring speed and pop because they're not going to go with the Zach Jones. Yeah. And well, I think,

I think, you know, the game environment in terms of what the scoreboard is saying matters a lot in this series because I think in games one and two, you know, certainly more so in game one because they got out to that quick goal after the Tarasenko tally and then it was kind of downhill from there from the devils. At least New Jersey got up one nothing in game two temporarily.

But when the Rangers are up, they can, they can execute a game plan, I think, much more smoothly against this devil's team because like they just very they simplify their game a lot right and it's not necessarily sagging back but it's a lot of like getting the puck deep and then exerting your will on you and kind of grinding on you whereas if they're down or even if it's a neutral game state and they're trying to push a bit more for offense that's where puck management comes into it comes into question and then if they're making turnovers at the new jersey blue line under this defensive pressure we're talking about from the devils that fuels the devil's rush attack as

well, right? And I think we've seen that the past couple games as well, where if the score is tied and the Rangers are feeling like, all right, we need to actually push here a little bit offensively as opposed to just playing a very simple game, then all of a sudden that kind of ties into exactly what the devils want. And I think that's what's happened in games, especially games four and five. Yeah, absolutely. And something with, you know, this else seem like you can't afford to be passive when you're, you know, ahead in a game because they're one of the best teams that's striking back. They're one of the best things that's pouring it on, even when they're behind. So it shows even more why you can't go into a defensive shell,

but you could see a difference in the vibes when they're ahead of in games too, when the power play is clicking first one. It isn't when you're getting opportunities and cashing in on them versus taking the opportunities and seeing the devil's penalty kill. You know, it's something that trickled into all situations for them. Sure, the power play still needs a lot of work. I think they were one for five last night. But, you know, the penalty kill is clicking.

They have that defensive confidence that it's something I think that you're going to just see it continue to push through while the Rangers, the complete opposites happening. And it's kind of funny because we talk about, well, they have the veteran presence now, especially with what they did at the deadline, versus the devil's inexperience when the veteran presence, like, isn't coming together.

The Rangers were the team last year that were inexperienced in the postseason with only a couple players who had like been there before. So it's just kind of funny how like the narrative has flipped so much within a year, but we're seeing, you know, the opposite happened. The young team is coming back and striking back and making this interesting. and, you know, now one team's facing elimination as a result. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, well, let's talk a little bit about the individual players then.

We were talking kind of tactically from a team perspective. Let's start with Nico his year because I think the natural starting point would have been like, all right, let's talk about Jack Hughes and we can certainly rave about him because he's given us a lot to do so with. But his year in this series, with him on the ice at 515, the shots are 48 to 20 for the devils. High danger chances are 22 to 6 and New Jersey has 72% of the expected goals. And I just watching them play, especially like this closely now, shift to shift,

rewatching it after, watching all these games in the playoffs on a much closer level than you can throughout the regular season when there's just so much happening on a nightly basis. Appreciating the little details in his game, right? The attention to detail and everything he brings to his craft both on and off the puck is really fun to watch. And you can see it in the last three games in particular as this series has flipped, where in each game you can kind of highlight one or two plays. where like that was a very subtle little thing he did but it made such a big difference in helping

you jersey win the series and i wanted to give him love right off the top here because i think his performance has has warranted it yeah it's been an extension of a career regular season like i think it was the first true year he really deserves selfie consideration because in years past it's like well he's a future selfie winner right like when version or i retire sure someone else shot at it but you know he never was a top three guy for the award either and this year he was he was was because it was the defense and it was the offense. There were adjustments to his game. We know he's a really great playmaker and that he's good in transition. But, you know, this year, he was shooting the puck at a higher rate too and getting more scoring chances because of,

you know, the way he changed. I think that's a big change for him and Hughes both was, you know, going to take the shot themselves and being a little bit more selfish. And you can just see that difference. And I think, you know, he's been, he's been outstanding. This is someone who can go against top competition. And it's such a good example of where the league should be going because sometimes we see guys like boxer, right, take on a ton of top competition. And there is some value to being a very good defensive forward, but to shut down your opponent offensively and then be able to force them to play defense against you, which is what Heathier does is so much harder to contain. And it's interesting here because, you know, the devils have a one-two punch that few teams

can't compete with down the middle. You have Hughes and Heeshier both coming off career years. And you have to make your defensive assignments accordingly. We're, seeing the Rangers rightfully say that Adam Fox, their best defenseman, is going to get Jack Hughes, the devil's best offensive threat, but someone like Jacob Trub is not going to have the best time, and he hasn't so far going up against Heeshire as a result. Who would have thought it? You know, so it's a good test for the Devils, too. Like they spread out their talent over three lines to really push the Rangers, you know, from a matchup perspective. And I don't think Heeshire got enough credit for what he could bring, you know, to this matchup, not just defensively,

to shut down players like Zabanajad and shut down players like Panarin, but offensively, too. I feel like that's a side of his game that, like, we can't stress enough because it's such proactive defense that leads to offense. Yeah, I mean, he's gone head to head with Zabinajad for about 40% of Zabanajad's five on five minutes so far with that line. And he's held, or the devils have held in that matchup, the Rangers to five shots on goal and zero goals in nearly 30 minutes. And, you know, speaking of the little detail, so in game three, in overtime, right, Zabinajad gets that clear look in from the like inner slot, basically, clean shot.

And Eco History comes diving out of nowhere, gets a stick on it, pushes the puck off target, saves the game essentially and the devils go back down and score. Game four, he assists on the on the game winning goal, right, where he stops in transition, feeds that cross-ice pass to Seganthalor as a trailer and he buries it. And then last night, it was on a smaller scale than that. but, you know, to seal the game on Hala's empty net, or I'm not sure if he noticed this, but like he ties up, I think he'll Zabinjad stick in the face off, and then like deftly just kicks the puck over to Hala, basically, and then Hala gets the fired and an empty net. And so in each game, you're sort of seeing like little elements of what's made him so special

in this matchup, whereas I wanted to point that out because I think for Jack Hughes, we don't necessarily need to spend that much time on it because, you know, he scored the three goals. I think he scored three of the first five goals the devil's had in this series. And it's kind of self-explanatory. right i think you could watch i think you could show jack hugh's tape to someone who's literally never watched hockey before and they'd be like okay that guy's different than everyone else and so there isn't like there's obviously details that make him so effective too and stuff that he's

added to this to his game this year compared to the past as he gets into his prime here but i think his dominance and his abilities are much more visibly obvious than sort of the little subtleties in his year's game yeah absolutely and you could see how he just started i think game four was like the prime example of it like he took over the game he played to his strengths. He's speeding up and down the ice and you're not going to be doing much about it. You can really go up against it. You need, you know, six Kalmakars to go up against that or half the lineup Kalamkar,

half the defense of Adam Fox, maybe you have a chance. But, no, it definitely is more obvious because you can see him just rushing up the ice. And he was honest, for me, when I looked at the devil's top forwards, I was less worried about Heeshire in this series than Hughes because, not just because like, oh, he sure's been here before and he's been here for, like, literally five games. But there's a little more versatility to his game offensively. There's a little bit more of that ability to grind it out. While we know Hughes, on the other hand, is all about the speed and skill of his game,

which is completely fine. He's continuing to develop and add something else to his skill set every single day, it feels like, you know, so he'll get there too. But he was the player felt like maybe it would wilt a little bit more if the Rangers found a way to successfully slow down the devil's rush-based game. And that hasn't been the case. You know, he's the player. I think that's gotten the ball rolling a couple times for them. And it's such a weapon for them to have. So if he moves on in the series or, you know, with this postseason, it won't be surprising if, you know, we keep talking about what he's doing and he's going

to get a lot of the spotlight when someone like he should really be sharing it with him. Yeah. I feel like even in games one and two, obviously the results weren't what the devil's wanted. But even while everyone else was struggling and kind of going through it, every once in a while, you would just get Jack Hughes individually doing something ridiculous and creating a scoring chance by himself, right? So I think that was very encouraging to see that even when things weren't going wrong right, or things when we're going wrong right out of the gate, he was still able to get his.

And so that's carried over, obviously. Before we go to break here, do you want to talk a little bit quickly about Timom Meyer? Because obviously, you know, he hasn't scored any goals yet. I think he's clearly been impactful in different ways in this series, certainly. But it's kind of been a mixed bag, right? Every time anyone asks me about this series, they're like, so what do you think about the first impressions of Timel Meyer? Is he kind of what New Jersey was hoping to get? And my answer is yes and no.

obviously like they brought him in to help with making their offense even more dynamic and scoring goals and the fact that he hasn't scored yet kind of gives you a no in that department but then all the other stuff the physical involvement just being a menace around the net and causing all of these little like dustups and stuff he's done that and so I think that was also part of the logic of why New Jersey preferred him over any other potential acquisitions of the deadline and so in that way he kind of has been what they wanted yeah absolutely you know it helps to have a volume shooter when you have a team with a lot of past first players. It helps to have someone who can get to the quality areas, who's someone who can make the place to retrieve pucks and keep play going in the offensive zone. And more importantly, you know, I think right now is he gives them more of an ability to spread out their top scores, which is going to give a team like the Rangers fits because, you know, they don't have the same depth as every other contender. And I think that they're a deeper team than they were in years past.

but, you know, there's a big difference between getting Adam Fox and Lingren's pair versus everybody else or getting, you know, the Zabana-Edline versus everybody else defensively, too, in New York. So I think that he is making a difference. The physical stuff is obviously super noticeable. The fact that he is pissing off Rangers is super noticeable. The one thing, obviously, I think, is staying out of the box for him, too, because even though the Rangers' power play is deflating right now, I don't know if I'd count on that forever, because it's a power play that tends to know what they're doing, although they are Galaxy

he braining quite a few things right now. Like, I don't know, moving your best shooter out of the spot where he has had the entire season. It feels like it's a super easy decision. And it's funny because one of the power play goals they scored in the first two games, you saw them all start roving. And that put cane back at the point. It put Fox, I think, in the bumper position.

Panarin over to the right and Zabedad, you know, shifted back to the left. And that's what found them success. You would think that's something they would do a little bit more. and then they tried it one power play last game. They were like, nope, this doesn't work and flipped it right back because that is how you should manage your team. But if you can have someone like Team O'Meer that is, you know, just making a difference, making an impact in all situations in all different ways, it doesn't hurt because you have

the scoring from elsewhere, you have the defense from elsewhere, that if you can just contribute in each little way until the goal scoring comes, and I think it will because he's generating chances, he's generating shots, he's tilting the ice in his minutes, and that tends to lead to goal scoring. it's kind of like keep up what you're doing just you know ideally don't take a ton of penalties yeah yeah he well he's he's taken five he's also drawn five it's kind of just he's been very chaotic right when he's been on the ice things have been happening and generally good things of the devils because the underlying numbers as you mentioned are great I mean he's got 20 shots on goal 39 attempts he will eventually score I will say and maybe part of this is like

just like wanting to do a bit too much because it's been years since he himself has been in the playoffs and he's got a lot of expectations on his plate but there's been times where I think like he's he's forced a little it off the rush where he's like been by himself and it's like one on three or something and he just puts his head down and tries to take it to the net and that's part of the that's part of what makes Timom Meyer special that sort of like freight train mentality right having the size and speed combo but I think he would do well to do something that Brat and Hughes do so well which is when they don't have the numbers advantage kind of stop up circle back and then wait for a trailer or wait for reinforcements and attack that way as opposed to just forcing kind of a low percentage rush shot where

you're by yourself because I think he's done that a few times in this series. And I think it's understandable why that's the case. But I think that's something that I imagine devil staff would probably want to work on with him. So I'm going to watch for it. All right, Shana, let's take a quick break here. And then when we come back, we'll talk about the Rangers side of things and kind of adjustments they can make heading into game six. So looking forward to that.

You are listening to the Hockey Ocast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network. Big guests and bigger opinions on everything happening in Leafsland. Real Kipper and Born. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple. Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Devils Rangers series with Shana Goldman. Shana, we've talked a lot about the devil's perspective and understandably so.

They've just won the past three games, including Game 5 in dominant fashion. Let's spin this around now to the Rangers perspective and kind of what they can do in the way of adjustments heading into game six and getting back on track. And the reason why I think this is an important discussion beyond just how poorly things went most recently

is I feel like Jared Galant is sort of known for being kind of like a vibes coach, right? Like motivation players coach, not necessarily a tactician by any means and I think not known for in series adjustments in particular. And the fact that the most recent series they played was that Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay,

which followed a very similar script of this, should I think understandably make people feel a little bit uneasy about sort of what the Rangers are going to do here and how they're going to be able to turn this around beyond just, oh, we need to play better because obviously that's the case. But I think it's clear that they need to make some sort of tactical adjustments and can't just play the way they've been playing the past couple games. Yeah, no question about it.

Like, it truly impressed me how they came to the series because it felt like the coaches did their homework and they figured it out. And then another team adjusts to them and they don't have an answer back. And it's not surprising. And I know it's easy to look back at last year and say, well, look what they managed in game six and seven back-to-back wins last year to win the series. But this isn't last year.

And last year, there were stubborn adjustments too that they didn't, that they kind of lucked into, like Tyler Mott being moved up to the first line over Frank Petrono, who couldn't manage the defensive aspects of taking on a Sydney Crosby matchup.

And at that point, Crosby was out of the lineup with Savannah. It's like a similar situation with Cain. They lucked into the fact that, yes, the adjustment worked. It should have been made way sooner. They happened to get a goal there. And that made them realize

the matchup suddenly worked. if that doesn't happen, they don't have too many options. In the regular season, too, they haven't figured out, you know, a ton of options for themselves. Just from a line of perspective alone, before you even get into like the actual tactics of the game, you could see the year, the avalanche one, you could see that they knew they were ahead in the standings and they started mixing and matching their lines because they even said, if we have injuries, we want to know we have other options. The Rangers didn't do that.

They could not figure out their options. they were trying to force combinations that didn't work like Patrick Canaan and Artemian because they knew they worked in Chicago even though it felt so forced in all of their minutes. So it's not entirely surprising that now here it comes, you know, game five midway through, they go, let's make a couple adjustments. And then those adjustments didn't work. They left them as is. And now they're going to mix it up again for game six.

Is it too little too late or are they the right adjustments is going to be the big question? And then tactically, they have made very few adjustments. throughout their tenure, the entire coaching staff, and you can see that, you know, especially when it came to in-game in series. So that's not something in their wheelhouse. And it goes really interestingly enough against the Devils, a team that kept their head coach, their people manager, right? That is what Lindy Ruff's job is.

He is the manager of the bench, of the team, of the people on it. That's what Gerard Gallant is for the Rangers. They changed their assistant coaches, and you see how different this team looks. They're better at executing what they wanted to have. They made tactical adjustments. They adjusted in season. Yes, there were times it took them longer than you think it should have, but they adjusted in this series pretty quickly.

That's not the case for the Rangers. So it's not just on the head coach, but it's on their entire bench, really, because we're seeing what a difference can be when you actually shake things up. Yeah, I mean, on the one hand, the devils certainly have, like, more options from our personnel perspective in terms of ways they can play and things they could do

and kind of buttons they could push. At the same time, though, power play adjustment that you hinted at earlier and that I think we should talk about more here is such an obvious one that I don't think it should take an NHL coach to figure out that they shouldn't be doing that, right? I know that in the first two games, they score what, four power play goals in just under 13 minutes of power play time, a couple of really nice set plays where Fox is shooting it for a crider stick and he tips it in. It works really well. That made a huge difference in those games. Since then, in the three games since they have zero power play goals in nearly 20 minutes

of ice time with a man advantage. And just watching these sequences where they have Mika Zabinajad, I mean, there's been times where he's been like on the goal line. And I just think that's absolute malpractice. I get, I get when it's like part of like the motion offense and you're moving around and trying to, you know, throw a different look at the opposing penalty. I get that.

But there's been times where like they're setting him up there. And I just don't understand what's going on. But when he's in the middle of the ice, he got a couple great looks in game three particularly early on, right? But I think it really, is not using your assets to their most optimal potential. It's like almost they're deferring to Patrick Kane because of his resume and his reputation. And part of what makes Abinajad so special is the fact that he can beat goalies cleanly from further out, right?

And so when you're putting him in the middle there, I think it really limits the options because he's also got that like really exaggerated wind up. You think of the Mika Zabinajad, one timers from the left flank and like he's torquing him in his stick up as high. is about anyone in the league. That's really, it's really tough to pull that off when you're like congested in the middle of the ice and they're trying to force these passes to them at times. And then instead they're doing so to have Kane on one flank, Panarin on the other, both guys, more pass-first guys who aren't really as much of threats as shooters. And so I really don't understand the logic behind taking one of your biggest threats and

biggest weapons and, you know, like unintentionally. Neutralizing it for no reason, right? It's not like a forced adjustment that the other team took away from you. It's one thing when you have Zabinajad in the left flank and teams do like the, you know, the Avechkin defense sometimes where like they like devote one guy specifically to just marking him and taking away his face and preventing him from scoring. But they're not, it's not like the devils are even doing that necessarily. The Rangers just went out of their way to be like, all right, we'll make this easier for you. We'll just take Zabinajad out of that spot and I don't

understand it. Yeah, it's funny to you because so when the Rangers first got Panarin, they shifted Zavaniad from the left circle to the slot because that's where Paneran played primarily. prior to joining the Rangers. And it worked for a point. This is a player who is able to play the slot, but sometimes you see him going to that goal line. You're like, you're not Leon Dre's idol. That is not your strength.

And that's okay. That is totally fine. But it's funny to you. Like, if you look back to last year, Mika Zanajat got off to a slow start on the score sheet, yes, it was Chris Kreider scoring a ton of the goals. But something they did was take Zabanjad out of that spot again. When they put him back in the left circle,

he started scoring goals on the power play. And when you started scoring goals on the power play, it trickled into his even strength game because that's how it works for Hineadad. and offensive players sometimes. You just got to throw a bone, let them get a little bit of confidence. It's going to help the entire team,

but you have your threat back. So it's an odd choice. It's a super odd choice. And this isn't last year's series against Penguins when Zabanajad won the Penguins penalty killers were cheating towards him because everybody knew that's where the Rangers were going to shoot from.

It's where they'd been shooting from for years. Second of all, you had a right catching goalie in Louis DeMing who was actually stopping him. Again, not the case this year. They're really not testing Schmidt enough. and it's something Lindy Ruff had mentioned when they put him in net. They weren't sure how things were going to work out.

It was a risk they went for and he's good against tips and deflections. If that takes Crider away as an option, it puts all the more need for shots to come from elsewhere. So it's just a super odd choice because if they insisted on keeping Patrick Kane on Fireplay one, maybe the best option for him would be to play the bumper position. It's a little bit different for him. But the whole thing with the Rangers PowerPlay that's worked for them is they know a vantage act can shoot. And if everybody's expecting him to shoot and then he doesn't,

and someone like Panarin chimes in with the shot or two or Fox, it does add the versatility that they need elsewhere, even though primarily the threat is from the left side. The thing for me, too, is I don't want this to sound like I just like, I hate Patrick Kane and I'm just like dragging on his game. I just, you know, there are things that I think are worth talking about. I think he's managing the puck a little bit more than he should on the power play too. They're relying on him to kind of quarterback it from the right circle.

When you have Adam Fox who was successful at doing that the entire year, it just feels like an odd choice because like you said, the reputation. And I understand that to a point. But if the power play is not working and you need to make an adjustment, you know, you need to find someone who can play the bumper position. So Panarin is Banerjad can be where they are at their best at this point. And it feels like they don't know who that option is, whether it could be someone like Heidel, Teresanko, or even Sean Kane there.

I don't know why that's not being experimented with. Yeah. And when you think of like one of the best bumper plays in my mind is Tampa Bay set up, right? Yeah, with point right there. They have point there. But he, first off, his shooting motion is significantly more restricted, right? Like he almost like he gets it and he just quickly snaps it as opposed to doing some sort of like a big windup, which is what Zabinajad typically does and what makes him so effective.

But also what makes Kutrov special in that distributor role there is he sells the shot and then he quickly slips the puck in there in the same motion before the opposing penalty kill can react, right? Whereas you're totally right. They're running too much through Kaine. and both Kane and Panarin, while they're phenomenal passers amongst the best passers of their generation, there are guys who like to hold on to the puck on their stick and wait, wait, like passing windows to open up, right? And in this case, it's really tough to get the puck to Zabinajad there by doing that because if the puck gets swung around the point and Fox passes it to Kane, for example,

he's not going to quit like one touch it to Zabinajad in the bumper while everyone's moving. He's going to stop it on his stick, wait for things, and then try to do so. and at that point, the passing window and the effect of that pass is not as valuable as it used to be. And so I just don't, it's very frustrating because I think that's a very clear adjustment. And I would hope they would do that in game six. And I think it's easier to make some sort of change like that after you haven't scored a goal on the power play in the past three games. But it's very clear that that needs to happen at this point. Yeah, absolutely.

And that one, that quick touch pass, look at last night's game with Mark Stone setting up, Chandley Stevenson on the power play, that quick pass is what makes. it's so, you know, so tough for the goalie to anticipate it. And if they insist on having Kane on the top power play unit, someone who holds on to the puck too much, I would honestly rather him be the player. If I were the coach, I would experiment with him in the bumper position. No, I know that's not where he's had a lot of his success.

But I think it's something to worth trying because I think he's someone who could swing from that position because Crater's going to stay in that net front to going behind the net and trying to direct play from there. If you want him to quarterback the unit, then have him go absolutely opposite Fox at the point and try having him take away the goalie's eyes and be a quick but primary word there, quick passer to set up shooting options and Panarin, no one's going to expect to shoot anyway. And then you open up that middle of the ice a little bit more for a lateral pass that I think would make Panarin Orzbanijad so successful.

But I think that there's something to that. You even see plays where Kane is the one drifting back to the point so Fox can move up. And you have to question that too because Fox, for all that he does well, he shot is his least effective part of his offensive game, I would say, which is, you know, saying something. Also, the defensive idea of if you're going with that one three one setup, that person at the point, you need to keep plays in the offensive zone. When Keen drifts back there, he's not going to. Yes, he's made a couple big defensive plays that have led to scoring, you know, at five on five, he even managed that this series, but you can't rely on that. So it just, it seems like so many

odd choices and they're getting blinded by star power that isn't, it's pissed, it's peak star power. You have other star power on that unit that you need to run. rely on. Certainly. Yeah, I think there's no need to be like, you know, going head over heels to accommodate it at this point. It's a bit of a redundancy and skill sets that way. And I think the key point here is I, you're totally right. Like they need to the panel, the power play bleeds into five on five as well, right? Like there's a reason why we talk about how it's a great way to add confidence, getting those easy touches, getting a few scoring chances, all of a sudden opens up the rest of the year game and makes everything a little bit easier for these top offensive players,

right and it's clear that regardless of what they do the rangers need to get me because it's been a jad going in this series because he's such a difference maker for them as a goal score and he hasn't scored a five-on-five goal dating back to march 28th i believe uh in the regular season against columbus which is like 13 or 14 games ago now and he's he's drawn the short in the stick in the in the history of matchup so far devils who clearly won those minutes and so i think they need to try to do something now they've as you mentioned they've kind of experimented in practice with switching up the lines and trying different combinations. I'm actually surprised to see they're not going with a combination.

They trotted out at the end of the second period in Game 5. With Kako with Kako with Zabinajad and Kreider, which I thought was the best shift they've had since like halfway through game two as a team where they just kept the devil's pin for about two minutes before checking the living daylights out of them and getting chance after chance. And that would make sense because I get like the foot speed concerns with that combination. but at the same time, if you're talking about sort of simplifying the game, getting the puck deep and then forechecking and trying to keep the devils from running

and gunning against you, that seems like that would be their best bet of not only doing that, but getting Sabinajad a few easier looks at 5 on 5 compared to what he's gotten so far in the series. Yeah, and like, yes, foot speed could be concerned, and that's the same that you're going to have when it's Patrick Kane on the line. But the difference is the defensive awareness. That's something that's really grown in Kako's game the last couple of years. It's the combination that kept. coming to mind for me, you know, like this is maybe what they should try and then throw

cane with the kids because you're going to get softer matchups. And I think the kids too might rise to the occasion of playing with Patrick Kane. I think that does matter. We're going to talk about star power reputation and all that. The coaches are getting blinded by it. I could see the kids getting confidence boost from that. I understand it's the combination that's worked, the kid line. We all love it because it's exciting. I think most of us are just rooting here for like the young players to thrive, the ones that were like, you know, we talked about probably how much in his early years, like how fun it was to see him, you know, succeed. Everyone enjoys that combination, sure, but sometimes you do have to make the tough decisions.

And with Kako there, that was a line that had some of the best underlying numbers in the regular season, which of the coaching staff pushed back to saying, I think, you know, their numbers didn't add up to that or whatever it was, aka they don't use the numbers. And we all know that to be true with this coaching staff. But that shift was the most dominant offensive zone ship they had. and it allowed Trochak and Panarin to then start in the offensive zone as well, which is what they need because there, you know, each line you're going, it doesn't have the foot speed.

I don't have a problem per se with it being Teresanko there. I think that that could work. I don't know if they should have given up so early, though, on the Kako option there, but if they wanted to break things up a little bit more, which it seems like they did, sure, whatever. I think Heidel with Panarin is going to be interesting to watch. It's a combination a lot of people have been wanting for years to see, he'll get more time with Panarin.

And Panarin's such a good passer. And He'll, someone who can create a lot of scoring chances. So if he can be set up by a more dangerous pass, instead of him being the player with the pass from behind the net, set up, you know, laughing for like a dirty goal or something. I think it might work out for them. I'm really curious to see if that's more of the second line than the third line. And then you have the short check and laugh on your line.

I guess they can grind it out and put in the dirty work to let Kane do his thing too. like I wonder if that's going to be what works or if they're going to get five minutes. The coaches don't like it and they start throwing everything in the blender in total desperation in the last minute. Like that's the question, right? Yeah. I've liked Teresanko's game in the series. Like for all the potential flaws, like he's clearly been very dangerous, particular as a shooter.

He's gotten a lot of opportunities. He scored a couple goals. Like I like him with Panarin just fine. I understand especially with Panera not scoring much of 5-1-5. Like they want to try different combinations to get all those guys going and at least give him give the devils a different look, I guess, and try to spark something. So I understand the logic behind it. I'm with you.

I would prefer a cockle on that line with Zabinajad and Crider and then sorting everything else out after that. But is there anything else? Like, do you want to talk goaltending a little bit? I feel like, you know, we remarkably haven't talked really yet about it at all. Clearly, Akirish Mead's been fantastic. What, given up two goals against in three games so far has like a 980, say a percentage or something.

And he's made a couple big stops. Now the devil's defensive effort in front. of them, especially the past two and a half games or so, has been night and day compared to the first two games. And I think that certainly made life a bit easier for him as well. Whereas just certain, despite all the goals he gave up in game five, I thought he was absolutely sensational, right? That could have been so much worse for the Rangers. And you got to feel for him because it really feels like he is, he's their second best breakout option as well in this series after Adam Fox. And so. And defenseman too. He's coming back to play defense and getting

out of that. He's trying to do everything. I think he wants to. to the school of Henrik Lundquist on how to overcompensate for your team. He had a shot on goal yesterday as well, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, he's been obviously phenomenal. I think he gives them a chance in every single game, especially with the level he's played at the past like 20 games or so.

But I don't know. Is there anything on goaltending or anything else in this series that you think that we need to touch on before we sign out here? Yeah, totally agree with you. He's definitely not the problem. I know he's the easy one to chant at, but he has been the Rangers best player throughout the series. And that's what makes us different from last year too, right?

because at this point, Chesterkin wasn't playing great. And once he did the series flips, you know, and now he's doing it all. Yeah. And against Pittsburgh. Oh, yeah,

that's right. Yeah. The two, two rough games of what was like, game three and game four, he was pulled in both of them. So it's a much different conversation because he's been the best player for them.

Keir Schmidt, though, we have to give a lot of credit to. And to the coaches for taking the risk, they could have gone Blackwood. And I think the series would have been over right there. That would have been a disaster. Blackwood.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That's someone who was handed the keys to be the starter and is the reason the devil's opened the season as poorly as they did the second they shipped it away from Vanichek. I get why they started Vanichick in the playoffs. He was their best goalie of the regular season, but we saw his workload. It looked like, you know, weigh him down and his playoff success at this point really, really, really isn't good. He has four games between two years and they're both pretty bad. He lost his starters net by game three for two straight

season. It's not ideal. But Schmidt was like the riskier pick and, you know, it's paid off. he if you even go back to last year through all the chaos in that he was their best goaltender of all i think seven to play which is saying something but it was tough to see considering the chaos around him yeah and everything i've heard about i mean obviously the sample size is really small but apparently just has like the most sort of like chilled demeanor as well which i think helps them in as well i think he said he was nervous in game three or whatever but it looks very calm cool and collected um the rest of the way so yeah it's been a fun story as well all right shana um i wanted to talk about like leaves lightning with you and

paths cracking and everything, but there was just so much to dig into in this series. So we'll get to that other stuff on another day. I'll let you quickly plug some stuff, let the listeners know where they can check you out and what you've got in the works as well on your way out. You can read my stuff at The Athletic. You can't listen to the Too Many Man podcast. I just had something go up about the rise of power play efficiency, and I'm just going to keep having random stories to go up as the postseason continues.

We'll see what wild things happen in game and what we can try to draw from them. all right well keep it up awesome always reading your work and following everything we're going to have you on again as the postseason goes along enjoy these games this weekend thank you to the listeners for listening to us we'll be back monday with plenty more of the hockeypedo guest here on the sports night radio network