Jake DeBrusk's Goal: Avoiding the Stack Screen
Last night against his former team in the Boston Bruins, Jake DeBrusk scored a really nifty net front goal largely based on positional play. DeBrusk is great when it comes to his play at the net and his ability to create interior shots, a big reason why the Canucks signed him to add scoring to their top-9 and top-6. DeBrusk generates a lot of rebound opportunities and loose pucks at the net, and also brings the ability to utilize positional play when it comes to screening the goalie in a tactical way.
When it comes to net front play, it’s important that we look at factors that provide the goalie problems at the net. Whether it’s trying to get the goalie to look above a screen, look around the net front players, limit depth in their crease, and just generally trying to limit the eyes of a goalie, there has to be multiple factors there. It’s largely based on timing, because when the puck gets shot at the net, the more net front players there are, the more likely the puck has the chance of being blocked. That is why it can be problematic to have too many players being at the net front for the offensive team, because it limits pass options and limits the amount of net a player can shoot at.
What DeBrusk did on his goal is something we’ll take a look at below.
Vancouver is on a power play sequence here, with DeBrusk at the net and the strong side Fs rotating in and out to shift Boston’s positioning. DeBrusk battles at the net, and he has goal side positioning on the Boston D, allowing DeBrusk inside positioning and ability to pivot more freely. If he were not goal side and his stick was tied up, he might not have been able to escape pressure so easily in this scenario.
Now, we see Conor Garland land at the net front right alongside DeBrusk, which has its benefits and downsides in this scenario. For one, do we really need two players at the net? It’s not a bad idea, considering the rebound could pop out to either post and land for DeBrusk or Garland. Where the idea becomes more problematic is when the shot gets released, it has a higher chance of being blocked. You have the goalie at the net as first layer of D pressure, then Boston’s D, and now two Vancouver players there.
To adapt this, Garland and DeBrusk do a really great job of leveraging their positioning and mobility to time their reads at the net. As the shot comes from the point, Garland moves back and DeBrusk does the same, which opens the shot lane and forces the goalie to find the puck in a short time. The rebound pops out right to DeBrusk, who is on the open side of the net, allowing him to shovel the puck in and effortlessly score.
Essentially, what Garland and DeBrusk did to avoid the stack screen at the net front is move with the puck as it was being shot. Once the puck got shot, Garland and DeBrusk moved away from the puck, opening the shot lane further, confusing Boston’s D, and changing the angle for the goalie to defend just slightly. Because the goalie didn’t track the puck clearly, the rebound landed in a very bad area, but very good area for DeBrusk.
This takes skill and hockey sense, rhythm and timing. Think of how Joe Pavelski did it when he was in Dallas and San Jose. In the bumper, Pavelski would tip the puck from top-down with his stick, starting his stick positioning above his shoulder and then tips the puck down as it comes to him, and then Pavelski also turns his body with where the puck is going in the direction of the net. It was a somewhat similar situation here, not with the tipped shot, but with how Garland and DeBrusk turned with the puck to open the shot lane and maintain net front positioning.