Devils vs Rangers notes: On rush play, Jack Hughes, and activating the defense

New Jersey generated more rush chances than anybody during the regular season. Exploiting New York's rush defense could be the key to victory.

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A few notes as the New Jersey Devils’ 1st round series approaches:

Rush play will be a huge factor

The Devils have developed into a very good offensive team in-zone. They have a handful of top tier forecheckers and have become quite adept at working pucks down low and sustaining lengthy possessions in the final third.

Their ‘top’ line of Tomas Tatar, Nico Hischier, and Dawson Mercer is especially good below the dots and in the cycle game. Deadline acquisition Timo Meier adds another dynamic, powerful dimension to the Devils in that respect.

While the Devils are capable of threatening offensively in every sense, they are most lethal off the rush. In fact, no team created more scoring chances per game than the Devils in that fashion.

It just so happens their opening round opponent struggles mightily to defend against the rush.

The Rangers’ defense as a whole was solid; they ranked top-10 in expected goals against and actual goals against. However, the Rangers slotted 27th in odd-man rushes allowed – and 30th in rush shots allowed – on a per game basis. They were legitimately bad in those aspects of team defense.

That’s no doubt a big reason why the Devils enjoyed so much success against the Rangers during the regular season. They claimed seven of eight possible points and crushed the Rangers at 5v5, controlling nearly 66% of the high-danger scoring chances.

Yes, things are generally tighter in the post-season. No, you probably won’t see as much rush play. But I have a hard time believing one of the worst rush defenses in the league is magically going to come up with a formula that completely neutralizes arguably the best rush offense.

I think New Jersey’s team speed is going to cause New York a world of problems and is a big reason why I predicted them to advance.

Jack Hughes should feast