![]() "You have to focus on the (other team's first zone) entry. His anticipation and positioning - both his body and his stick - are exemplary.Īs for strategy, Suter tries to straddle the line between being passive and aggressive. He ranks 49th out of 100 with a minus-0.2 rating.) Bruce Bennett / Getty Imagesĭetroit coach Derek Lalonde lauds Suter for his hockey IQ and hockey sense. (Dylan Larkin is the next Wing on the list. Yanni Gourde (2.2 rating), Suter (2.1), Jake Evans (2.1), Ty Dellandrea (2.1), and Brandon Hagel (2.0) pace the 100 forwards who've logged at least 100 shorthanded minutes this season. Suter, who at even strength can fill a top-six winger spot or center the fourth line, is among the league leaders in Evolving-Hockey's catch-all metric for shorthanded defense. Yet they may have the NHL's best shorthanded forward in the versatile Pius Suter. The Detroit Red Wings are 17th in penalty-kill percentage. As a leader on a team desperate for a playoff series win, the timing couldn't be better. ![]() Matthews has found good health and his version of beast mode. ![]() Notably, he'd jumped to second in slot shots, fourth in inner-slot shots, and eighth in chances off rebounds while wiggling into the top 10 in chances off the forecheck (ninth). But not quite up to Matthews' lofty standards.Īs of Thursday morning, exactly two months and 20 games later, the 25-year-old was still leading in chances off the cycle. He'd appeared in 47 games at that point in the season. 30 leaderboards, Matthews ranked first in the NHL in scoring chances generated off the cycle per game, fifth in slot shots per game, 10th in inner-slot shots per game, and 10th in chances off rebounds per game. Josh Lavallee / Getty ImagesĪt a granular level, Matthews has been terrorizing defenses.Īccording to Sportlogiq's Jan. Plus, he recorded either eight or nine attempts in four other March games. He had a career-high 19 last week against the Carolina Hurricanes, 13 on March 11 against the Edmonton Oilers, and 11 on March 2 against the Calgary Flames. Three of his six highest shot-attempt totals this season were recorded in March. The moments of dominance are adding up.Īt a basic level, Matthews has simply been firing more pucks. Now healthy, Matthews' name has been climbing the charts in the various statistical categories in which he tends to rank highly. 34 marching through the neutral zone, dangling defenders in tight spaces, deceiving goalies with that all-world shot - have returned. The visual cues that were absent for a significant portion of the season - No. ![]()
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