Teammates know what Kruger offers
With Toews out, center has taken on different responsibilities
The modern age of hockey has brought with it a slew of newfangled analytics, mathematical mouthfuls such as score- adjusted 5- on- 5 Corsi For, expected Fenwick shooting percentage and supportneutral winning percentage.
But the so- called ‘‘ fancy stats’’ crowd has yet to come up with a term for taking a hit to make a play, holding on to the puck just long enough to draw an extra defender and get smeared into the boards — but not before making a sneaky little pass to a suddenly open linemate.
Maybe it should be named the Kruger.
‘‘ He’s a fun guy to play with,’’ Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane said of center Marcus Kruger. ‘‘ He works so hard, he gets pucks back and he sacrifices his body for you to have time and space. I feel like whoever’s playing with him is going to have a good chance to get opportunities to score.’’
Kruger has made a career for himself on the strength of his defense, his penalty- killing and his ability to withstand punishment along the boards and in the corners. But creating opportunities to score never has been his strength or his role. Aside from an occasional period or two on Kane’s line in the years before Artem Anisimov arrived to fill the longvacant No. 2 center spot, Kruger’s job has been exclusively defense- oriented.
That has changed with captain Jonathan Toews ( back) out of the lineup. Kruger will be on the second line with Ryan Hartman and Marian Hossa for the second consecutive game Friday against the Rangers. And while Kruger never is going to be a finisher in this league — he had no goals last season and has two this season — he has proved in the last couple of weeks that he can help generate offense in other ways.
First, he helped lift Richard Panik out of a prolonged slump on a surprisingly effective line with Dennis Rasmussen. And in Kruger’s first game with the red- hot Hossa, the veteran winger scored two goals.
‘‘ I like playing with [ Kruger],’’ Panik said. ‘‘ He gets his job done. He’s always in the right spot and helps out the ‘ D,’ so he ends up with the puck all the time in the D- zone, and we end up in the O- zone, creating chances.’’
Kruger played a season- high 14 minutes, 54 seconds Tuesday against the Coyotes and had more offensive- zone starts ( six) and neutral- zone starts ( six) than defensive- zone starts ( one), only the third time that has happened in the last two seasons. Just four games earlier, Kruger had two faceoffs in the offensive zone and a whopping 19 in the defensive zone. He also has had eight shots on goal in his last four games, more than he had in the previous nine games combined.
But second line or fourth line, offensive zone or defensive zone, Kruger said nothing changes. He shrugs off the idea he’s making a concerted effort to be more offensive the way he shrugs off those hits along the boards night after night.
‘‘ The mindset is the same,’’ he said. ‘‘ But, obviously, you’re aware of who you’re playing with and their strengths.’’
Kruger’s fate always will be to play a defensive role. In fact, at the start of the season, coach Joel Quenneville wanted to move Hossa down to Kruger’s line to create a monster checking line. Instead, at least for a couple of games now, Kruger has moved up to Hossa’s line, a rare opportunity for him to make scoring goals the priority.
‘‘ When you’re watching the game, he might not stand out as an offensive guy,’’ Kane said. ‘‘ But as players, we realize that time and space that he creates from being out there and the way he works.’’
NOTE: Defenseman Brent Seabrook will miss the game Friday with an upper- body injury suffered Tuesday. Coach Joel Quenneville said he’s day- to- day.
Captain Jonathan Toews will miss his eighth consecutive game Friday, but Quenneville wouldn’t rule him out for Sunday against the Stars.