How one PK shift from Brad Marchand & Patrice Bergeron helped ‘put a dagger’ in the Devils

Something finally had to go the Devils’ way on Saturday night, right? 

Right??

The champions of the 2019 offseason have had little to show for their myriad of summertime moves now that the calendar has turned to October, especially when it comes to their woes on special teams.

Entering Saturday's matchup against the Boston Bruins with a porous PK (46.1% success rate), New Jersey's woes on the kill were only matched by its listless showing on the man advantage — with the Devils failing to tally one power-play goal through its first 11 stints of 5v4 action.

New Jersey may not have the personnel to cash in at a 25% clip on the power play this season. But a goose egg through a week-plus of game action? Surely something had to give.

Brad Marchand, however, had other plans.



Both Marchand and Patrice Bergeron's value to this club is tied into both their effectiveness in the O-zone and ability to frustrate opposing clubs down the other end of the ice on a regular basis. But as Bruce Cassidy and the B's continue to try and preserve No. 63 and No. 37 over the grind of an 82-game regular season, both forwards are finding themselves deployed less and less in both PK situations and D-zone draws.

As Boston looks to keep Bergeron away from the taxing shifts spent accounting for opposing top-six talent around Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, the B's pivot has seen his offensive-zone faceoff percentage rise steadily over the years — going from 43.00% in 2014-15 to a mark of 58.90% in 2018-19.

Likewise, with the emergence of reliable PK options like Joakim Nordstrom and Sean Kuraly, Bergeron and Marchand are seeing their shorthanded TOI also dip — with Bergeron going from an average of 2:12 of PK ice time in 2015-16 to 1:42 in 2018-19.

But when Cassidy opts to call upon Bergeron and Marchand to disrupt a team's power-play unit, the results are often still devastating. New Jersey learned that the hard way on Saturday.

Down by a pair of goals midway through the second period, New Jersey found a glimmer of hope after Brandon Carlo — one of Boston's most reliable PKers — was sent to the sin bin for a hook against rookie Jack Hughes.

With Carlo out of commission, Cassidy rolled out his 63/37 combination to try to thwart any chances that the Devils were able to manufacture in the O-zone. Both skaters did that and more, to say the least.

While the Devils tried in vain to set up bodies on the B's side of the ice, Marchand and Bergeron set up an impromptu game of "keep-away" down the other end of the sheet — with Marchand failing to cough up the puck for extended stretches while hovering around New Jersey's blue line.

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Even during the stretches in which he was pressured, Marchand had a bailout option in Bergeron, who would either corral the puck out of danger or feed it back to Zdeno Chara for safekeeping. When an exit appeared to present itself for the Devils, a stick lift and steal was not far behind — with New Jersey failing to generate a single shot attempt for a stretch of over 40 seconds.

As much as a special-teams clinic can get a rise out of the crowd and spark a bench, the real impact generated from such a shift is often felt by the club looking to take advantage of that 5v4 sequence. For a Devils team already pressing to finally erase a long stretch of power-play futility, Marchand and Bergeron's showing served as the final nail in the coffin — even with more than 30 minutes left to play.

"It's huge. When Marchy has got the puck for 20 seconds in the corner on the PK — you're watching him and you just know the other team is frustrated," Kuraly said. "It kind of puts a dagger in them, like — 'Is this team that much better than us?' I'm sure that's what's going through their mind."

"I think what it does more is deflates the other team," Cassidy added. "If that’s our power play, and I see a team doing that, frustration sets in from the coaching staff; the players on the ice are frustrated and so I think it more demoralizes the opposition than it does to lift us up. We’ve seen them go to work, so that’s the benefit of when you’re able to kill with puck possession a penalty and do it so dominantly." 

For Marchand, finding the right opportunity to strike on the PK and cut off a passing lane is often a tough call. Choose right, and you have what you saw on Saturday night. Choose wrong, you've taken yourself out of the play and given a team even more space to work with on the man advantage. But the winger guessed right against the Devils, who ultimately only generated one high-danger scoring chance through 8:00 of power-play time.

"It doesn't always go your way, but you can take advantage of teams offensively on the PK," Marchand said. "Most guys are looking to swing up ice and cheat defensively and you normally only have one D back there. ... "Every time, I'm thinking scoring chance. Again, lot of guys are coming in, swinging off of you and going back up ice again. You can let them off and hold onto it for an extra second, and give yourself a little extra space. Again, sometimes I get myself in trouble doing that, but it is what it is."

Even with Boston's 4-for-4 showing on the PK during Saturday's 3-0 victory over the Devils, the B's special-teams unit still has plenty of rust to shake off. Currently ranked 17th in the league with a 78.6% penalty-kill percentage, the Bruins will need to tighten some things up when down a skater, especially against opponents that can really do some damage in that area — such as the Maple Leafs and Lightning.

But on Saturday, against a Devils' power play that was already on the ropes — Marchand and his PK partner delivered a pair of knockout blows.

"It is fun," Marchand said of dominant shift. "It's always fun. We're in the NHL."