Hayes, Blueshirts stifle Oilers phenom McDavid
KEVIN Hayes, who plays the same position as Connor McDavid, understands what life can be like matching straight up against the reigning Hart Trophy winner.
“It’s a challenge you’re going to get only once all year against the 1A/1B best player in the league [with Sidney Crosby] because when we’re in Edmonton we don’t get the last change,” Hayes told The Post following the Blueshirts’ 4-2 victory over the Oilers at the Garden on Saturday afternoon. “So you get up for it.
“If it goes well, you feel really good about yourself. If not, he’s the type of player who can make you rethink your job.”
After this feel-good performance in the Rangers’ sixth straight victory, there is no need for Hayes to scan the help-wanted ads. For No. 13, linemates Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello plus the Ryan McDonagh-Nick Holden defense pair, essentially dominated the match against the wonder kid and his dynamite right winger, Leon Draisaitl.
McDavid, who did get a power play goal in the second period, played 20:40 of five-on-five. Hayes, on against him for 11:40, had a 13-6 Corsi edge that translated to a 68.4 afternoon. The rest of the matchup quintet had similar numbers in quieting the league’s most dynamic athlete.
“You’re always aware of where he is on the ice,” said Hayes, who set up Nash on a two-on-one for the game’s opening goal midway through the first period and created a couple of more outstanding scoring chances on the counter. “It’s always center-on-center, except in the neutral zone. When you see him swing. You try to stay with him, limit his options, and take his ice away.”
The alternate match lines centered by Mika Zibanejad — between either usual wingers Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich, or in the third period, between Michael Grabner and Jesper Fast — had equally impressive results.
“Playing against a guy like him, we had three keys,” said Nash, who also redirected a Brady Skjei power play diagonal feed for the 3-2 go-ahead score late in the second for his sixth goal of the year. “No turnovers in the neutral zone [even though we did have three of four], get the puck in deep, and always have the third man high.
“It’s not one guy or two or even just the three forwards. It’s five guys being smart in what we do. Actually, I think as a team we played a smart game.”
The Rangers looked mechanical early and had difficulty winning pucks in the their own end. Hence, there were few clean breakouts. But their pace picked up as the game evolved. And though taking a defense-first approach against McDavid’s line, the Blueshirts were able to generate a handful of odd-man rushes of their own against the puck-hungry No. 97.
“Every top line wants to have the puck,” said Hayes, who is adapting well to the more checking-oriented role into which he has been placed by coach Alain Vigneault. “There are pros and cons to being aggressive against top guys, but if you’re smart about it and play defense well, you can create two-on-one’s the way we did in this game.
“It’s the same situation as against Pittsburgh, except they have the two lines [with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin]. It’s a cliché to say that defense leads to offense, except in this game it’s actually true. It’s not a cliché. I mean, McDavid’s line has over 40-percent of their goals, so you know they want to be in the o-zone.”
Henrik Lundqvist turned in another excellent performance playing behind a structure that for the most part allowed him to see the puck. And the Rangers had the puck as often as not when McDavid was on the ice. That tilted the game the Rangers’ way.
“You want to make offensive guys play defense,” Nash said. “Personally, I’ve been part of shutdown lines playing in the Olympics going up against the top guys and the objective is always to keep the puck away from them as much as possible. But it’s not easy.”
Not easy at all, but it was mission accomplished by the Rangers, by their matchup guys, and by Hayes who has every right to feel pretty good about continuing his chosen profession.