CBJ vs DAL 2/25

CBJ Forecheck and Quick Danger, Dallas Middle Lane Priority, Differences in Neutral Zone Approach, Zach Werenksi's Quiet Brilliance

A fantastic win for the Blue Jackets against one of the best teams in the Western Conference.

The Stats

I lean so heavily on stats and started a tracking project mostly so that I have clear signposts for investigation into games. It’s easy to get caught up in just what sticks out and these data points are easy ways to stay grounded in something concrete. Rarely do these data points fully tell the story themselves but in this game the entirety is almost completely captured by the stats available.

This game, fundamentally, was about the Blue Jackets’ forecheck tearing apart Dallas. 5 goals, significant danger and extreme volume. At the same time, Dallas found ways to create danger from each an every situation and even froze the Blue Jackets out of a lot of rush offense. I think there are some systems interactions there and it will be interesting to dive into the tape.

From a more zoomed out perspective, the Blue Jackets authored a commanding and decisive lead of the game for two periods prior to the double-minor high sticking penalty. They made mistakes, and were deservingly punished, but they took the fight to a good team. This is a tremendous sign going forward as the Blue Jackets return some of their best playdrivers from injury.

Now that Boone Jenner is back in the fold, we can see the distinct deployment of Dean Evason coming through. As he has been all season, he’s put Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson in the drivers seat for the toughest matchups. Not that Marchenko and Voronkov haven’t been getting difficult matchups but oftentimes they’re put in positions to succeed offensively. Boone Jenner represents a much improved defensive third wheel option compared with what Sillinger and Johnson have been faced with in the past.

When Monahan returns, he’ll have plenty of options on how to tweak the lines and their deployment. Does he go Jenner-Monahan-Johnson as a brutal matchup line with diverse potential or does he bring back the Fantilli-Johnson partnership and put them in offensive minutes.

In any case, Fantilli, Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov put on a clinic in the offensive zone. They masterfully dismantled Esa Lindell and Cody Ceci and starved Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment of offensive opportunities.

Justin Danforth, the leader of the pacey forechecking “grind line”, had an incredible game against Jamie Benn and Wyatt Johnston.

Overall, Robertson and Hintz did find some rush success but the game was largely dictated by Danforth and Kuraly finding some supreme exit turnovers and turning them into chances.

As much as I am writing glowingly about the Blue Jackets’ performance I would be remiss to ignore the high quality danger that Dallas created. Their clear prioritization of the middle lane is a distinct feature of their top players’ talents and something the Blue Jackets would be wise to learn from.

Stories of the Game

CBJ Forecheck and Exit Kills

Normally, I like to flow through what happened at the beginning of the game and demonstrate how you could see the cracks in teams before they ultimately broke. This time, I’m going to have to break the temporal sequence of events because Kirill Marchenko scores on the first shift though it’s a really good illustration, there’s one that’s a perfect diagram.

The primary factor for the Blue Jackets’ success on the forecheck was Dallas’ insistence on going up the wall on the strong side on dump-in retrievals. The ironic thing, perhaps, is that this is the exact same thing that the Islanders and Hurricanes have done previously to the Blue Jackets who also do the same thing.

This right here is “the structure”. CBJ have forced Dallas into the strong side and have their players “on top of”, meaning directly vertical of, each of their checks. What this does is compress time and space and guide Dallas into a cul-de-sac and especially into a pinching defenseman.

The Blue Jackets are tenacious and Kuraly cycles down later and forces the Stars into the same strong side exit. James van Riemsdyk is on top of his check but Dallas gets the puck loose and deep.

CBJ struggles to get the puck out but sticks with it and comes in multiple ways to ultimately get the puck deep. Dallas tries to go up the strong wall on their retrievals, and they did this consistently, which pushes them into the teeth of CBJ’s same-lane loose puck neutral zone approach. It’s not easy to see the details because of the camera angles but it’s Kirill Marchenko’s dilligence and routes that unlock everything.

Marchenko is the F3. The forward closest to his net in play and he’s staying “on top of his check” which means directly vertical to the Dallas center, in this case Matt Duchene. It’s great, disciplined positioning and helps eliminate options for Mason Marchment and makes Provorov’s pinch highly successful. Voronkov and Provorov make quick plays and Marchenko pounces on the rebound.

Pay special attention to Marchenko the whole time, his routes really control the game. Voronkov and Provorov don’t find him but he’s pretty much always open. A bad rebound from Oettinger and Marchenko brings the finish.

That’s really the theme for the rest of the game. The Blue Jackets were committed to getting in on the forecheck and they were disciplined in staying above the center. What happened most often was pucks from the blue line directly to the net. Though the other goals came from tips, the same principle applies.

This clip starts perhaps far too early but I wanted to showcase just how much Mathieu Olivier contributes through the entire shift or said in a different way how much he victimizes Matt Dumba in repeated instances.

Zach Aston-Reese chips in and both he and Danforth force Brendan Smith to go up the strong side. Olivier stick checks Wyatt Johnston and degrades the play which means the Blue Jackets thwart the Dallas dump-in and get started north again. Loose puck exit and Olivier locks in the puck and makes sure it gets deep where the true breakdown starts.

This isn’t exactly a forecheck breakdown but it’s not a carried or traditionally controlled entry either. Puck goes low, CBJ quickly gets the puck high and tips the puck in the net.

The last goal comes from a set breakout, a James van Riemsdyk slot force and a failed quick exit play from Dallas. Sean Kuraly earns a free puck by tracking hard through the middle and puts it straight to the net.

The work from Fantilli and Marchenko on this goal is incredible. Marchenko’s capacity to keep pucks at the blueline on the forecheck is well documented but Fantilli’s intensity in pursuit of pucks and within contact is finally emerging from its slumber. He’s been a bullet out of the break and was finding his feet before it. The playmaking afterwards is just sublime.

There’s plenty more forechecking instances too and not just from the same exact type of situation. At times Dallas has two defense back and doesn’t go up the strong side, CBJ still on top of their checks at pace, Harley tries to beat Danforth solo and there’s a turnover. There’s quick high zone turnovers to tips.

The other big themes are Olivier and Voronkov. Both are very interesting players who have found ways to use their massive weight to guide players into the boards before stripping pucks with free hands. Voronkov, in particular, had an excellent game all-around. The top line was buzzing and doing it all in a variety of ways.

Dallas Middle Lane Rush Use

Dallas is a very good offensive team. Sometimes they cheat the zone for offense but mostly why they’re good is their motion to create time and space. They use east-west movement to create open skating, passing and shooting lanes and their top players play very well off one enough.

Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz form a formidable duo and one that has echoes and similarities around the league. Johnny Gaudreau-Matthew Tkachuk, Nikita Kucherov-Brayden Point, Jack Eichel (or Chandler Stephenson)-Mark Stone, Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen (R.I.P.). The formula is generally a primary puck carrier or a player who loves using speed to dominate the middle of the ice and another who is slower but who has vision and skill and can use their small-space skills to accentuate the speed of the faster player and unlock space for them through speed differentials.

Hintz and Robertson constantly use subtle east-west movement to create danger in the middle of the ice. There aren’t necessarily huge passes across lanes but simple ones that increase the threat of any given possession by buying their partner time and space.

In this game, Jamie Benn and Thomas Harley also did some of the same.

What stood out most was how often Dallas used their routes to create space and used simple passes and constant changing of angles to find the middle and most dangerous play. Sometimes, as in the case of Harley, that made one pass too many. Sometimes, these were more direct with handling breakdowns as was the case of Granlund to Hintz. Most of the time, though, they created a lot of repeatable offense by being incredibly proficient in key areas. Dallas is one of the most interesting teams to watch purely because of how they move and pass the puck after gaining the blue line. Often, that’s Matt Duchene but this time it came from across the roster.

The Blue Jackets are still working out how to play exactly like this, and their offense does find some different ways of creating high danger, but perhaps they’re beginning to find their own archetypes in Fantilli and Marchenko if not Werenski and Monahan (or Voronkov). If Kent Johnson can find a teammate to work these short passes for, they might grow into one of the most versatile offensive in the game.

Differences in Neutral Zone Approach

I feel a bit guilty for approaching this systems analysis this way and I think it could serve everyone to connect it to the greater approach of the game. Unfortunately, I think that would require drilling down with a lot of time which would perhaps only be worth it if I expected these two teams to meet in the playoffs. Instead, I’ll just show you some differences within their structure and pontificate on how that might have had relevance on the greater game.

Both teams run a 1-2-2 in the neutral zone but they bring very different styles.

It’s an easy look just off the faceoff. But we can see The Dallas Stars remain fairly compact and collapsed, perhaps a response to the Blue Jackets’ style.

Perhaps Dallas’ more compact block explains the Blue Jackets’ early change-of-sides in possession or even helps accentuate their forecheck. Where I think this is connected in regards to the outcome of the game is in the Dallas Stars’ more direct and compact tracking block that takes away the middle of the ice and the Blue Jackets’ complete lack of high danger chances off the rush.

Here, Dmitri Voronkov comes back early to help the Blue Jackets exit the zone. Brief aside, he was really incredible at being a perfect third wheel this game. He’s always had that kind of limited-puck touch but high-impact skillset but this game he was backchecking and getting pucks up ice very well.

Here, he gets the puck across the ice to Marchenko in an advanced position.

Here, you can see Dallas defending with their pairs and a concentrated position interior of the Blue Jackets’ rush threats.

Post-Entry, the Stars continue to pack the middle of the ice to take away chances to pass into the most dangerous area of the ice. I can’t say how they defended last season but this track back in a hurry to pack the slot structure was the primary way that Edmonton killed their rush attack in the playoffs.

It’s not like the Blue Jackets didn’t get any inner slot chances on this sequence it just didn’t come directly after entry. That was allowed partially because Dallas gives them time to set up on the perimeter and partially just because Marchenko is a difficult player to take a puck from.

This clip is more of a broken half-counter situation and so not necessarily the same representation of Dallas’ structure but it still illustrates some of the gameplan.

They tracked back through the middle. Notice all of Dallas is between the dots even as Kent Johnson breaks through their layers. Their response is to shade toward the puck and Provorov’s response was to skate into a hard rim.

The Blue Jackets got to create some offense because the puck leaked out to the weakside and Dallas had all of their guys commit to the strong side. Kent Johnson makes a brilliant off-wall pass but Sillinger can’t find a shot, attempting a high danger slotline play instead, so it doesn’t get graded as anything in my tracking (hopefully something I can rectify next year).

The Blue Jackets, on the other hand, operate in more of an offset 1-2-2 where the middle forward pair leans toward the weakside until the puck carrier has committed. They generally funnel the carrier into a d-pinch and have the far side forward available to either help on the retrieval or pick up the weakside trailer.

In this case, Wyatt Johnson surfs the space that the conceding forecheck leaves in front of them and he gets to work on the forecheck.

Perhaps this explains the differences in the offensive priorities of each team. The Blue Jackets moved around the block and created breakdowns by changing sides, which means the Stars are in a predictable place, and exploiting turnovers as they tried to exit the zone because they were allowed to get “on top of” the checks prior to to Dallas’ recovery and there was limited weakside threat.

The Stars, however, got to exploit the space between the layers of the defense and forward pairs which were more distributed across the ice horizontally. This means that attacking through passing plays on angles is a good way to take what the defense gives and that’s just what the Stars did.

Zach Werenski Quiet Brilliance

Zach Werenski, though he didn’t stand out in offensive contributions and lost his home point streak, brought an incredible presence to this game. Most specifically, he helped the Blue Jackets break through Dallas’ pressure by baiting multiple defenders to take a puck and beating them with simple and direct plays.

This has always been in Werenski’s bag but small passes to the middle to beat pressure were particularly noticeable from him last game as well. It hasn’t been quite as evident this season as Evason mostly asks his defenseman to rim pucks and beat pressur that way but perhaps the Four Nations has renewed Werenski’s confidence in creating directly from the back end.

The skating and solo plays, especially the retrieval to dramatically outskate Jamie Benn, have certainly been a big part of his game this season and those skating moves into simple passes featured heavily for the Blue Jackets this game. I show them now mostly because it’s easy to lose in the flow of the game.

This sequence is perhaps less outwardly brilliant but also subtle and understated. I simply love the footwork Werenski puts into this pass. Planting feet into a pass is an easy way to telegraph intentions. Werenksi doesn’t need perfect footwork because his stick skill and upper body are separated from his lower body. He passes mid stride, which is extremely deceptive, and puts it right on the tape of Dmitri Voronkov who creates a good rush chance.

Werenski activates downhill and tries to find Voronkov at the net-front but that’s not what’s interesting about this play. What he does after, and especially in his route through the middle, is brilliant. This motion has incredible potential as a disruptive force for an activating defenseman. He doesn’t do too much specifically, but wins a puck race and creates space for Marchenko who is coming downhill.

Nothing major but he tops this cool early defending with an excellent seam pass and blue line keep as well. A fantastic game despite the streak ending.