The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton takes a look back at some important statistical and oral storylines from the Red Wings’ 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night:
Copp, Compher, Zone Time, and the Red Wings’ Ground Game: Between Motte’s performance, Dylan Larkin‘s empty-netter, and five-a-side goals from Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher, it was a big night for the Red Wings’ sizable contingent of University of Michigan alumni.
With Copp and Compher in particular, the goals were a supplement to strong performances that ran much deeper. “They were both on, committed to playing the right game,” said Lalonde of the former Wolverine teammates. “When they’re playing their game, it’s a lot of winning shifts…They both got us offense, but they were winning shifts with some really hard match-ups with that type of lineup. I’m glad they both got rewarded with some offense.”
A key element of that success was Copp and Compher’s effectiveness in driving their lines to some sustained spells in the offensive zone on a night in which Nashville made that difficult. Though the Preds accrued far more chances than mustered their hosts, both non-empty net Red Wing goals came from offensive zone play. Detroit’s top line threatened throughout the night off the rush but could never quite connect. Meanwhile, from Compher down, the Red Wings did manage to relieve pressure at least on occasion via the offensive zone cycle, and it was that style of offense that produced both Detroit goals.
“Everyone’s into underlying numbers now,” said Lalonde of that dynamic this afternoon. “They’re pretty good for us. We out-chanced them. In our underlying numbers, we out Grade A’d them 2-1, but there was a ton of volume [against] on shots. Obviously we had extended zone time, so there is that balance where you need stops, you want to lessen zone time. It’s a little bit on both ends. It’s one, on our defensive end, getting stops, but two, it’s spending some more time in the offensive zone with the puck. And we did have some possession, and it was kind of a point of emphasis. We rushed to the slot, which is sometimes positive, but it doesn’t help what we call a ‘ground game,’ the O zone time, so there’s a balance…Last night’s a perfect example. We’ll certainly take that game—the way we defended, the type of slot chances and Grade A’s we gave up—but that’s a hard volume game and a lot of zone time, lot of shots against.”
Continued; I know that Copp has been a massive disappointment in terms of his offensive contributions, but he and Compher are superb defensive players, and while they may both be #3 centers, they do a hell of a job in terms of pushing puck possession into the offensive zone.
I love the way that the Rasmussen-Copp-Fischer line serves as an “identity line” that can be tossed over the boards when the Wings are taking on water, so to speak, and Compher is a hard-working center who I believe has a little more offensive potential than we might think.