DEFENCE WON’T REST
Active blue lines for Jets and Preds are factoring in large as series deadlocked
WINNIPEG — Forgive the
Sesame Street reference, but today’s lesson is brought to you by the letter D.
Through the first two games of the second-round series between the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators, D has been for difference-maker and for the most part, dependable.
Yes, there have been mistakes made by the defence — Jets blue-liner Ben Chiarot made an aggressive pinch on the Predators third goal on Sunday and Toby Enstrom got caught inside the offensive blue line on the double overtime winner by Kevin Fiala — but for the most part, the top four on both teams have been logging major minutes and the respective defence corps are making a major contribution.
Not surprisingly, Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien and Predators blue-liner P.K. Subban have been a driving force for their respective teams.
In Sunday’s 5-4 loss, Byfuglien had a goal and an assist and had a team-high 35:27 of ice time, finishing with six shots on goal, nine shot-attempts, three hits and four blocked shots.
“He’s just a big, powerful man. He got us back going,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said after Game 2. “He’s such a force out there.”
Subban was also a force in the contest, playing 36 seconds shy of two full periods, delivering a power-play goal and an assist and generating six shots on goal, 10 shot attempts, four hits and three blocked shots.
Subban also had five giveaways and was unable to prevent Jets centre Mark Scheifele from scoring the tying goal with 65 seconds left in regulation time.
But there was obviously much more good than bad when it comes to Subban’s game.
Obviously with the game going an extra 25 minutes and 37 seconds with double overtime, the ice time numbers were a little bit skewed, but there were seven blue-liners who logged more than 30 minutes on Sunday, while Toby Enstrom was just shy of 26 and Tyler Myers of the Jets was just under 25.
Both clubs rely heavily on the top two pairings.
As for Myers, he’s part of both the second power play unit and the penalty kill, so he’s not a typical third-pairing guy and his ice time reflects that.
When you have two gifted offensive teams like the Jets and Predators, even the most dedicated commitment to defensive play isn’t enough.
And this isn’t about pointing the finger at either Chiarot or Enstrom for their roles in the aforementioned goals against.
Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson scored on a slapshot after Chiarot took the body at the defensive blue line on Filip Forsberg, but the Jets were on a line change and that’s part of the reason there was no support behind him.
And on the double overtime winner, Enstrom was tied up with Predators forward Craig Smith, but had support along the wall behind him from both Andrew Copp and Jack Roslovic.
Predators centre Kyle Turris won the battle with Roslovic along the wall and moved the puck forward as Smith beat Enstrom up the ice to create the two-on-one rush with Fiala.
Enstrom hustled back but couldn’t catch Fiala and Smith made a perfect pass right as Byfuglien went to the ice to try and break up the play.
On Monday afternoon, Maurice was asked if his blue-liners have the green light to pinch in that situation.
“The play away from that scrum at the line is what got us into that scrum. I’m not picking on those five guys,” said Maurice. “I’ve got no problem in them holding the line in that situation.”
The reason for that position from Maurice is simple: The Jets have active blue-liners.
Along with responsible forwards who are often in position to cover up in the case of a situation where a defenceman gets caught.
Sometimes, there’s a breakdown even when the safety valves are in place.
For the Jets, that was the difference between losing Game 2 in double overtime and having the opportunity to continue pressing for the game winner.
“Jumping in with both feet, that’s what we talked about going into the overtime. There’s no sense in being hesitant,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey. “If you’re going to lose the game, lose the game feeling like you threw it all at them and they just happened to score. That’s really the mentality we were trying to have.”