[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sJ9IhNH\_88](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sJ9IhNH_88).
TL;DR: DeBrincat continues to be in the right place at the right time to give Kane time and space that Kane can turn into goals.
I’ve seen a lot of grumbling about DeBrincat not scoring a lot lately. Not all contributions to goals show up on the scoresheet. This one *does*, but only because there’s only 3 guys on the ice so he kinda had to end up with an assist. That said, he’s bringing exactly the kind of long-term-teammate-telepathy we expected from him when we brought Kane in for the synergy boost.
(0:07) DeBrincat gains possession. He sees he’s got Seider for a screen around the same time Kane comes around to point-guard this offensive zone chance. Seider’s got his big body up front to do a little pick-and-roll action.
(0:09) Drop pass give-and-go is in full swing. Seider *maintains the right to his space*, preventing the defense from matching the cross-over. Man to man defense can *get* disrupted a properly set pick and that’s exactly what happens here. DeBrincat is streaking to the net because if there’s a rebound or a cross-ice pass that’s exactly where he needs to be, and if all he does is draw attention to give Kane an open look…getting a hot hand an open look is a valuable thing to be doing.
(0:10.1) Kane is in the Ovechkin Office and DeBrincat’s drawing the attention of two defenders–the guy he’s got beat by half a step and the low-slot defender, who *has* to get his stick in the passing lane. Kane now has a bunch of open ice and most of a second to work with, and it’s the combination of Seider’s brilliantly-set pick and DeBrincat presenting a *higher-danger-threat* that gives him that.
Remember, the Wings are one of the top teams in high-danger-shooting-percentage in the league and it’s one of the only things that’s been keeping us in the hunt, so presenting a *high danger threat* is something that opposing defenses have to address.
(0:10.9) Kane is now below the faceoff dot, DeBrincat is crashing the net, and with the Columbus guy draped over him as thoroughly as he is the other Columbus defender is trying to switch back over to Kane but it’s too late. Even so, he’s still got his stick on the ice and in position to do something if Kane wants to try a late low cross-ice pass or get some sort of rebound redirection action.
(0:11.1) Patrick Kane at the bottom of the faceoff circle with nobody between him and the net but the goalie is *not something anybody has ever wanted to bet against*. DeBrincat is now full-committed to crashing the net.
We’ll jump to the top-down replay.
(0:28) DeBrincat has his stick on the ice in the exact spot it needs to be a puck-bounce or a pass comes his way. Tarasov has seen DeBrincat coming and is reacting to that *ludicrously high danger threat* (ain’t no higher danger threat than a rhetorically-open net) and starts to shift to address that.
(0:29) Nothing all that special here, just proof positive that the puck’s over the line before DeBrincat makes any contact with the net or any contact with the goalie he’s not being dragged into by the defenseman.
(0:34) An unenviable situation. Kane with the puck down low with DeBrincat as an option with his stick firmly on the ice with enough time and space something *could* happen.
Okay, after review it looks like it’s a combination of Seider’s Karl-Malone-caliber pick setting it up and DeBrincat playing give-and-go to draw defensive attention away from Kane on the finish.
by BaronDoctor
3 Comments
dang. nice analysis. yeah he’s not invisible out there. he looks dangerous. thanks for showing his impact.
Its easy to pick out debrincat during this rough patch and blame him cause they traded for him and paid him. But in any game ive watched hes clearly making an impact with and without the puck. I still think our problems are team wide sloppiness when it comes to passing and defense.
ADB is in a tough spot. He’s such a natural score that whenever he’s not doing that people assume he’s not doing work. He’s definitely struggled to create a lot on his own, but we knew that when we bought him. At the end of the day he’s a finisher.
That’s it, I think you’ve done a really good job of highlighting that it’s not always scoring goals they can contribute to overall team success. He’s a threat when he’s on the ice and he does do a lot of stuff away from the puck to create space for himself but also for others. When you’re as much of a goal scoring threat as he is, sometimes just being available is as big of a boon as anything. I definitely noticed as well that his four checking, especially his tenacity and trying to recover pucks or win battles in the neutral zone, it’s really been beneficial for us. He’s still not exactly a possession driving machine by any means, but he’s doing a lot more than it gets credit for to disrupt flow. I think he’s casually written off as a defensive black hole. And while he’s not exactly Mark Stone on the wing, he can still contribute more ways than not. I think an appreciation for an effective forecheck is something we often overlook since a lot of what our fans have seen from a forecheck in the last several years has basically been toothless without a lot of offense to back it given the state of our club and the depths of the rebuild. But nowadays things like that kind of four check really help. Especially when you don’t have a center like Larkin around to drive, play as much. Sometimes disruption is as important as anything for regaining some momentum or at least controlling flow of the game.