John Hynes details strategy for stopping Connor McDavid in 4-3 win over Oilers
With Alex Carrier's goal just over two minutes into the overtime period, the Nashville Predators pulled out a huge 4-3 win over Edmonton, finally proving that they can in fact beat the Oilers. It had been so long, many were wondering if it was even possible. The last time the Preds beat the Oilers was […]
With Alex Carrier's goal just over two minutes into the overtime period, the Nashville Predators pulled out a huge 4-3 win over Edmonton, finally proving that they can in fact beat the Oilers.
It had been so long, many were wondering if it was even possible. The last time the Preds beat the Oilers was February 2019, when Nashville still had their not-so-secret Edmonton Oilers weapon, Pekka Rinne, who stopped 36 of 38 shots to earn a shootout win for the Preds.
As it turns out, the Preds might have a new secret weapon that could help earn more wins over the Oilers in the future.
Preds hold McDavid, Leon Draisaitl without a goal
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have been scoring at will this season, especially against the Predators. Those two have combined for 49 goals through 33 games so far, with six of those coming in just two games against Nashville heading into last night.
Obviously, the key to stopping the Oilers is in stopping McDavid and Draisaitl. But that's a task that few teams have accomplished this season, so it was expected that Monday night in Bridgestone would be much of the same.
The prevailing question in the press box prior to the game was not "how many would the Oilers score" but "how many would McDavid and Draisaitl score?"
But as the game progressed, it became clear that tonight would not be their night. The dynamic duo for the Oilers was held to only a handful of attempts in the first two periods and only five shots combined all game. While McDavid did finish the game with two assists, both of those came on Edmonton power plays, courtesy of two goals by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Watching the game, Leon Draisaitl looked particularly stifled. His modus operandi against the Predators for many years has been sending perfect passes across the ice in transition and expert finishing around the net. Meanwhile, McDavid does what he does against everyone: use elite speed to create plays from all corners of the ice and find goals seemingly out of nowhere.
But last night, Draisaitl and McDavid were unable to find the back of the net. Full credit to Juuse Saros, who stopped 30 of 33 saves, and was especially strong in the 3rd period and overtime, but John Hynes gave particular attention to one key young Preds skater
Cody Glass shuts down Oilers duo
"I would give a lot of props to Cody Glass," Hynes said when asked about keeping Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl from scoring.
"Glass's line played against them the whole night," Hynes said. "I thought he was excellent, I thought Nino [Niederreiter] was great, he and Tanner Jeannot were really good. They were able to attack and make those guys defend, so they didn't have to defend all night. But their attention to detail up the ice, whether it's in our neutral zone forecheck, or coming out of the offensive zone, they were on top of those guys.
Stopping the Oilers from gaining the zone with speed was the key to Glass's game last night. Leading his line from the middle of the ice, he was able to force McDavid wide when possible, with Jeannot and Niederreiter clogging up the lanes for Draisaitl and Hyman, not allowing them space to receive passes.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Glass played just over eight minutes against McDavid and Draisaitl, the most of any Preds forward. During that time, his line held their own in shot attempts (generated six, allowed eight) and out-scored them by one.
"It wasn't like you saw a lot of plays where they generate a ton of offense coming from out of their own end with speed. I think, going into the 3rd period, I don't think McDavid had a shot on net. I give those guys a lot of credit as a line."
This is a big development point for Cody Glass, who had been healthy scratched many times earlier in the year. In fact, Hynes brought up those lineup decisions when talking about how well Glass played against the Oilers last night.
"You talk about the development of a younger guy," Hynes added, "Earlier in the year we put Cody up in that style of role and he wasn't ready for it. He learned some lessons, stuck with it, came back, and now you look at his game and his confidence level, that he can go against that line and he wants to be out on the ice.
"His faceoffs were good. He's skating. That's a guy that we know can play. But sometimes guys aren't ready to be in those certain roles, because they're human beings and they're trying to get up and running. But it's really nice to see him play the way he did tonight. If we can get him continuing to play the way he's playing, I think he's gonna make our team a lot better."
John Hynes is right. If the Nashville Predators can rely on Cody Glass to play in shutdown roles the rest of the season, they will be a much better team. They need to find anything that works and have it be a consistent force every night. If that's Glass shutting down the opponents' top forwards, then that's what it has to be.
Does this development make them a playoff team? Hard to say. But it will certainly lead to better results, and maybe even lead to surprising some folks in the 2nd half of the season.
–Featured image via Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports —
