Kraken vs. Devils PREVIEW: Raising Hell on the Rush

The Need to Knows

• The Time: 7:30pm PT
• The Place: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA
• Place to Watch: ESPN
• Place to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM
• An Opposing Viewpoint: All About the Jersey

Know Your Enemy

Going 4-1-0 and scoring 25 goals in their last five games, boasting the league’s recent Third Star of the Week as their first line centerman in Jack Hughes, and bolstering their top defensive pair with Šimon Nemec, the 2022 2nd-overall pick, it’s hard not to be dazzled by the New Jersey Devils. Naturally, the Seattle Kraken are set to meet them on such an upswing.

Following a slow start to the season, New Jersey’s found their footing offensively by, essentially, fixing the target of their attack in the manner Seattle’s desperately needed to: by locating and bombarding the high danger areas of the ice. Although they tend to actually produce from farther out, the Devils have quickly established one of the strongest net-front presences in the league, an improvement responsible for their increase in shot quality generated and goals scored. In all situations the Devils have scored 85 goals (6th).

Underneath all that flash, however, is a mediocre defense harboring their greatest vulnerability– what New Jersey surrenders in their own end nearly equals what they generate, reflective in their -2 goal differential on the season and relatively meager +5 goal differential over their last five games (yes, the same span in which they’d scored 25 goals).

Game Preview

On paper, the Devils have a defensive structure more than capable of limiting opposing shot quality. The trick to beating it? Not letting it set up in the first place.

New Jersey has reduced the quantity of rush and odd-man rush chances they allow, however, those that they do slip past their defense are of much greater danger than they were last season. Overpowering the Devils’ defense specifically requires control over their blueline, as the “first play” after crossing into the zone is where they struggle to thwart enemy attacks. To take advantage of this means having possession upon entry and strong positional support from the rest of the five-man unit to provide passing options allowing for swift, streamlined, and strategic movement through the offensive zone. For Seattle, controlled exits, speed through the neutral zone, and controlled entries (limiting dump-ins) will be crucial to accomplishing this.

And with a combined .884 SV% from Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid, the Devils are weak against the rush no matter who’s in net (both tend to concede goals from the lower portion of the faceoff circles). Beat the otherwise suffocating defense to their positions and capitalize on goaltenders hung out to dry– that’s a play the Kraken should be very familiar with.