Dylan Larkin's Speedy Rush Goal vs Chicago: Why Speed Differential Matters
Speed differential is one of my favorite tactical components to talk about when it comes to hockey. For those trying to understand it, essentially think of a forward matched up full speed against a defenseman moving at a slight pace trying to defend in the neutral zone. In this case scenario, this means that the forward has speed differential in their favor, or positive speed differential as another way of talking about it.
Speed differential is important when it comes to elite players who can drive pace and play in transition, including names like McDavid, MacKinnon, Makar, Jack Hughes, Bedard, and Dylan Larkin is one of the more underrated centers in the league at doing this. He isn’t underrated because of his speed in general, because everyone knows how fast Larkin is, but more so underrated in how he uses his speed to attack. Larkin can attack at high pace while simultaneously handling and possessing the puck, an increasingly difficult skill to do, especially in transition. A lot of Larkin’s pace comes from his transition play, and he can get going full speed and stride without the puck on his stick or gaining speed behind the puck.
One of the components I notice most about Larkin’s speed is his ability to gain speed in his toes. He plays forward on his feet and playing on his toes allows him to push the pace faster, with all his weight leaning forward. Similar to other top skaters in the league, there’s a lot of efficiency in Larkin’s crossover-stride ratio, where he uses more crossovers than he does strides to gain speed. It creates a gallop-like motion, almost like a horse, where Larkin can move faster in his footwork.
Here we see how Larkin uses that speed, and how he changes his route off the puck initially to change his line of attack. One of the things that makes it easy to recognize how much space a player can create by attacking is a simple task: Drawing an invisible straight line end-to-end on the rink where the player is stationed on the ice. In this example initially, by Larkin changing the angle and that line off the puck so he can gain speed, there’s nobody in that hypothetical line.
I’m not the best at drawing, but here’s an example to showcase what I was talking about above. Notice how there’s nobody in that line where Larkin is, including on the track back from Chicago here as well. This creates a big advantage in terms of space that Larkin can create, where he can either burn the defender off the rush or try to maneuver elsewhere. Larkin chooses the first option, and with his speed differential and footwork advantage on the defender, Larkin easily wins this race.
领英推荐
Larkin building that speed behind the puck allows him to protect the puck and then quickly maneuver back to his forehand in on Mrazek. Mrazek is sold that Larkin will shoot on his short side, also his glove side, leaving Mrazek’s blocker hanging slightly. Larkin takes advantage of the far side, realizing the blocker is vulnerable and quickly shifts the puck to his forehand to shoot there.
Larkin made this play look effortless, in large part due to that speed differential that he built to not only fool the defenders off the rush and get behind everyone, but it also fooled Mrazek based on his positioning. Mrazek was angled to the play fine, but it was Larkin’s shift in puck positioning to his forehand that allowed him to take advantage of the far side.