G30 New Jersey Devils @ Philadelphia Flyers: Contrasting styles
G30 New Jersey Devils @ Philadelphia Flyers: Contrasting styles
Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell | @InfernalAccess
Be sure to join the Discord channel to talk hockey, and everything else, with me and fellow subscribers.
Five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Philadelphia Flyers:
An edge in goal
While Mackenzie Blackwood has probably not lived up to expectations this season, he still owns a save percentage above league average (.908) despite playing behind a poor defensive team and dealing with COVID. Overall, he’s played alright; especially given the circumstances. The same can’t be said of tonight’s counterpart, Carter Hart.
It’s not an exaggeration to say Hart has been one of the worst goaltenders in the NHL this season. Maybe *the* worst.
Hart owns an .887 save percentage at 5v5, worst among 39 eligible goaltenders. His .757 SV% vs high-danger shots is also dead last.
Things don’t look much better if we include all game states. Hart sits 53/53 in overall SV% and 48/53 in HD SV%.
Oh, and Moneypuck has Hart at -17.6 Goals Saved Above Expectation. I repeat, MINUS 17.6.
The Flyers haven’t played stout defense but he isn’t exactly bailing them out with any regularity. He’s lost all confidence, it seems, and can be easily beaten.
With Blackwood trending upwards, and Hart struggling immensely, the Devils should feel quite good about the goaltending matchup tonight.
Push, push, push
The Devils should be going balls to the wall tonight for a few reasons. I mean, they’re at their best when they’re rested and able to skate teams into the ground. The Flyers being in the latter half of a back-to-back should only help matters.
There’s also the fact the Flyers are extremely fragile right now. They’ll dominate a game for 40 minutes but one bad thing happens and their game tends to fall apart.
If the Devils can take advantage of their fresh legs, and get out in front early, they might be able to get the Flyers to fold.
It’s crazy to write that about a team sitting *checks notes* two points out of a playoff spot but that’s where they’ve been at for a few weeks now.
I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence, consistently poor goaltending getting to the team, or Alain Vigneault’s message growing stale, but the Flyers are Down Bad right now.
Contrasting styles
The Devils are all about team speed. They may not be a good team but, win or lose, they play fast and are always looking to push the pace. It’s a much different story in Philadelphia.
They’re a very slow, methodical side that focuses on breaking teams down low with the puck, and always having a set defense to help mitigate transition play without it.
Unsurprisingly, that leads to low-event hockey. Take the last 10 games, for example.
No team has played slower than the Flyers and I doubt they have any plans on changing in a B2B situation.
The Devils are going to have to ramp things up and try to force the Flyers into a style outside of their comfort zone.
The Chance Machine
Yegor Sharangovich was super-hyped heading into the season. Scoring an overtime winner in his debut only added fuel to the fire. Outside of that, though, he really wasn’t contributing a whole lot in the early going.
Boy, have things changed. Sharangovich has really found his footing in the NHL and he’s generating chances at an absurd rate.
Yeezy is averaging more than 11 chances per 60 over the last 10 games. That ranks him 11th in the league; just ahead of guys like Auston Matthews, Alex Ovechkin, and Brayden Point. Maybe you’ve heard of them.
Sharangovich really seems to be playing with a new level of confidence and his linemates are getting him the puck every chance they get. Unlike earlier in the year, he’s making the most of them. If he’s in a good spot, he’s shooting; and if he’s not, he’s getting to a dangerous spot with authority.
He has the size, speed, and power to fight through contact and get to the dirty areas of the ice. I think that’s the kind of skillset you need to have success against a team like Philadelphia that plays slow and generally makes you beat a set defense.
A good spot for the PP
New Jersey’s power play sucks. It just does. There’s no sugar coating it; the personnel isn’t great, and the coaching hasn’t exactly helped the cause.
The Flyers might just be just what the doctor ordered as far as getting the Devils to score a goal on the man advantage.
They’ve struggled on the PK all year long. They rank 27th in expected goals against/60, 27th in actual goals against, and 28th in high-danger chances against/60. If we focus on just the last 10 games their statistical profile is very similar; they don’t look like a team climbing out of a hole (unlike NJ, whose PK is really trending upwards).
We’ll see if, for once, the Devils can take advantage and make any sort of noise on the PP.
numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and MoneyPuck.com
Check out our friends at PuckPedia.com for all your salary cap, and contract, needs!