In a game as frantic and bombastic as hockey, decisions made out on the ice are rarely granted the processing time needed for players to avoid misfortune in the form of D-zone lapses or bone-crunching collisions.
Whether it be trying to corral a fluttering puck amid a mass of skaters in Grade-A ice — or trying to settle a biscuit with a forechecker breathing down your neck — it’s little surprise that hockey is often characterized as a game of mistakes.
In most instances, that lack of time between an opposing skater closing the gap and your brain processing what to do with that puck on your stick is a curse. Under pressure, the synapses firing off in your frontal lobe often tell you to rid yourself off the puck before a heavy hit is delivered — even if it could lead to a costly turnover.
In other instances, the sight of a power forward barreling toward you is enough to make most players skate wide in an effort to avoid the car crash that awaits on the ice.
But then again, Connor Clifton isn’t like most players — at least not in today’s NHL.
Because in 2022, there are very few skaters willing to square up and try to pop a forward with the heft of Milan Lucic (240 pounds) — especially someone in Clifton who weighs in at 190 pounds.
“Big-body contact right there,” Clifton said of his third-period hit against Lucic on Thursday night. “Two big bodies going at it.”
Making decisions in the span of a few milliseconds might stand as the toughest hurdle to overcome in the game of hockey, but Clifton views that quick-draw decisiveness as a blessing, rather than a detriment.
Because in those bang-bang sequences in which a puck is skipping out into the high slot or a big-bodied opponent is looking to get toppled, Jim Montgomery is already well aware of what Clifton’s intentions are.
“I don't think there's a red light, there might be a yellow occasionally, but it's not very often,” Montgomery said of Clifton’s decision-making out on the ice. “He's full green."
Whether it be activating off the blue line in search of a Grade-A look or using his 5-foot-10 frame to bowl over opponents, Clifton is never one to shirk away from a bit of risk on the ice in search of an even greater result — a reactionary mindset that could be viewed as reckless to some, but ideal for a system like the one cultivated by Montgomery.
And given said symbiosis between Clifton’s on-ice DNA and the principles preached by Boston’s new bench boss, it sure seems like the Quinnipiac product’s breakthrough season so far in 2022 has been far from a fluke.
Thursday’s win over the Flames might have been headlined by the return of Charlie McAvoy to Boston’s already stout D corps. But in a game that quickly devolved into a war of attrition with heavy checks abound, it came as little surprise that Clifton once again left his fingerprints all over another victory on home ice.
McAvoy’s snipe from the high slot might have given Boston the lead for good in the 3-1 triumph, but Clifton also stuffed the stat sheet for the B’s at TD Garden — recording his first goal of the season in the first period while logging 19:28 of ice time, the second-highest total among Bruins D-men.
Connor Clifton gets his own rebound and buries his first goal of the season.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) November 11, 2022
1-1 game. pic.twitter.com/ISuyhE2eTH
And in a contest that featured one major scrap and 32 combined penalty minutes, having a heat-seeking missile like Clifton came in handy for the Bruins, with Clifton’s check against Lucic near the “Mike Van Ryn memorial pane of glass” — as Jack Edwards proclaimed — serving as an emphatic stamp on another strong night for “Cliffy Hockey”.
“He just continues to lead us in physicality,” Montgomery said of Clifton. “Him, Foligno, I mean, there's a lot of players that are doing it. I think that we're a team that, the way we're built, we can win a lot of different ways and early on, we were winning high scoring games. Now we're winning a lot of 2-1, 3-1 games.”
Of course, Clifton’s propensity to inflict welts against the competition hasn’t exactly been a new development since he first arrived on the scene with Boston back in 2018. But during previous campaigns, it was often Clifton’s aggressiveness that led to D-zone lapses — curtailing his reps in the process.
Clifton certainly hasn’t changed his game much in 2022. But the 27-year-old defenseman has been a revelation so far this season when it comes to his D-zone play, giving Boston a stout top-four option on the right side during the month of action in which McAvoy was on the shelf.
After averaging just under 17 minutes of ice time during his previous four seasons in the NHL, Clifton was thrown into the fire this season by Montgomery, averaging 21:44 of ice time entering Thursday’s game.
But so far this season, Clifton has been more than just a minutes-muncher for a defense that has once again asserted itself as one of the stingiest units in the league. Rather, he’s helped snuff out scoring chances with regularity, especially when paired next to Hampus Lindholm.
When it comes to doling out praise for Boston’s superb showing in its own end so far this season, names like Linus Ullmark, Lindholm and even dependable foot-soldiers like Derek Forbort stand at the forefront.
But next to Lindholm, Clifton has been a monster — with the latter’s physicality and aggressiveness serving as the perfect compliment to Lindholm’s poised and controlled play down both ends of the ice.
In total, a Lindholm-Clifton pairing has logged 76:16 of 5v5 ice time so far this season, with just 48.8 percent of their faceoffs set in the offensive zone.
And even if Montgomery isn’t exactly handing them heaps of favorable ice, the Bruins are still outscoring opponents, 5-0, during those 76 minutes when Lindholm-Clifton have been patrolling the blue line.
It’s an impressive stat line that not only has allowed Boston’s defensive integrity to hold when McAvoy was on the shelf, but also gives Montgomery the freedom to split up McAvoy and Lindholm and roll out two dominant defensive pairs for the majority of a game.
“Cliffy's always been like that,” McAvoy said of Clifton. “He's just always been a stud. A little bit might be just the opportunity. But a lot of it internally is stuff that we've seen forever. He competes every single shift. He doesn't take shifts off.
“He's physical, he can play, he has an offensive side that I don't think many people might realize just how good he can be in all aspects. To see him play and how well he's done. Like it's just great. And obviously he's incredible person. I mean, we really do root for each other in here and he's been another guy that stepped up and done awesome.”
With McAvoy now back in the lineup, it’s to be expected for Clifton’s usage rates to drop some moving forward. But so long as he can continue to put up these results next to Lindholm, Clifton isn’t going to be bumped out of his top-four spot any time soon.
And based on what he’s witnessed so far, Montgomery hasn’t seen any indication that Clifton’s play this season is due for a regression.
“He plays the game like he loves it," Montgomery said of Clifton. "And I think that's why everybody in the room and the coaching staff and I think the fans, the Bruins fans, love him. Is because he's always playing the game to win. And that's why you play."