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Cult of Hockey
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Horrible performs can outline a superb participant, even an sometimes nice one. Simply ask Darnell Nurse.
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There’s no scarcity of tension and criticism in Oil Nation simply now in the case of two Edmonton Oilers d-men, Vincent Desharnais and Nurse.
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Nurse is the extra essential matter, given his significance to the staff, so I’ll deal with him on this submit.
Greater than another Oilers d-man this yr, Nurse has been trusted with probably the most ice time towards the hardest competitors. If he succeeds in slowing down or, higher but, shutting down such attackers, the Oilers are more than likely going to win.
However, simply now, Nurse has didn’t succeed. Simply now he’s had two iffy video games in a row, matches marked by a number of main errors by Nurse now seared into the consciousness of many Oilers followers, a lot in order that there’s some concern about whether or not the veteran defender can deal with the likes of Los Angeles assault aces Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala and Viktor Arvidsson within the fraught video games to return.
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Make no mistake, that is no straightforward job. One slight misinterpret, one sluggish response, one over attain, can lead to a objective towards. Based mostly on his efficiency the previous two video games, I’ve shared within the doubts about Nurse, however having now dug deep into his play as soon as extra, I’m fairly sure that Nurse can flip issues round.
He’s a superb guess. Not a certain factor however extra doubtless than not he’ll work out the right way to get the job completed.
I say this primarily primarily based on Nurse’s physique of labor this and different seasons and by myself video assessment of Nurse’s play within the first 4 video games of the L.A. collection. I once more went over the important thing moments of his play to test simply what he’s been doing proper and mistaken, to verify I wasn’t abruptly biased towards him due to a number of ugly performs within the final two video games.
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As I wrote in a latest submit, Nurse went by way of a nasty defensive hunch for a month or two this season, however general he had his finest common season as a two-way participant at even energy.
Particularly, his play picked up within the final month of the season, when he performed a number of the finest hockey of his NHL profession. His defensive and offensive reads had been sharp. He moved the puck quick and good. He defended with each aggression and acumen, nearly at all times sustaining good defensive place, maintaining an in depth eye on opposition hazard males in entrance of his personal web. He stopped making so many ill-advised offensive jaunts, simplified his sport and excelled.
In his final eight common season video games, Cult of Hockey sport graders, on a ten factors scale, awarded Nurse the next excessive marks: 8, 8, 8, 7, 7, 7, 8, 7.
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That’s one nice run of play for an NHL d-man, particularly one entrusted with such heavy and laborious minutes.
Nurse carried on his sturdy play in his first two video games towards L.A., incomes grades of six in Sport One, and 7 in Sport Two.
He misplaced a number of powerful battles in these video games, and even made a pair dangerous performs, specifically giving an excessive amount of hole to Kopitar on a primary interval rush in Sport Two, then dropping him within the Oil zone as Kopitar arrange a harmful slot shot, and, later, biting on a Kings participant on the boards within the second interval of that very same sport, leaving the center of the ice open for a move and a breakaway probability by Rasmus Kupari.
However, general, the nice Nurse did in these two video games outweighed any dangerous.
However then got here a type of nasty, defining, searing moments, beginning with Nurse’s troubles in OT in Sport Three. It’s price noting that on the performs in query Nurse was nearly definitely bodily exhausted. He was out on the ice when he nearly definitely ought to have been on the bench. He had taken the ice on the 19:08 mark of time beyond regulation, with an Edmonton penalty known as at 18:16.
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Nurse had already put in a 52 second shift however as a substitute of sending out somebody different d-man on the left facet of the PK unit, the Oilers coaches caught with Nurse. There he stayed for an additional 99 seconds, because the Kings maintained possession and didn’t enable him to modify off.
His first mistake was failing to clear the puck, then he screened goalie Stuart Skinner on a excessive slot shot from Kopitar that went off the submit. Subsequent, the Oilers hemmed in and Nurse nearly definitely able to drop from fatigue, an L.A. ahead received the puck within the nook, beating Mattias Ekholm and Derek Ryan.
It was solely at this level that Nurse made his extremely memorable mistake, abandoning Kings ahead Trevor Moore in scoring place in entrance of the web to lunge on the Kings ahead transferring behind the web. Thus, when the move received by Nurse, Moore was there to hammer it dwelling for the profitable objective.
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It was an unlucky psychological error by Nurse, however fatigue had doubtless performed an enormous position within the miscue.
Sport 4 meltdown
Then it received worse for Nurse. In Sport 4, Nurse’s play was riddled with main errors.
On the primary L.A. objective, as Kevin Fiala of the Kings beat Desharnais down the wing and put the puck on web, Nurse centered on the puck as a substitute of selecting up hazard man Gabe Vilardi steaming up ice into the play. Nurse didn’t take Vilardi’s physique or stick and the L.A. ahead slammed in a objective. A short while later, on the third L.A. objective, Nurse misplaced two 50/50 battles in a row with Kings forwards, giving Kopitar a transparent path to attain.
Within the second interval, as Evander Kane raced to battle Kings d-man Matt Roy on the boards for a puck, Nurse took it upon himself to cost up the ice, primarily blowing the zone at the same time as there was no certainty Kane would win the puck. Kane didn’t. Roy did, and he took it laborious to the web, unmolested, as a result of Nurse wasn’t in place to cease him. L.A. may simply have scored on the sport, which might have made the sport 4-1 however Jack Campbell made an enormous save.
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A short while later, Nurse deserted his personal man, Moore once more, to assist out Ryan Nugent-Hopkins within the nook, solely to see Moore get a move and a Grade A shot.
Lastly, with the scored tied 3-3 within the third, Nurse went for an enormous hit within the impartial zone, at the same time as L.A. had full possession of the puck. The hole he left on defence was rapidly exploited by the Kings, with Roy capturing up into the opening to take a move and rating.
In every of the final three instances, and on the OT objective towards, Nurse had primarily made the identical mistake, getting too aggressive, getting drawn out of his place and away from the defensive slot, away from the participant and/or territory he ought to have been protecting.
Easy downside.
Easy repair?
I feel so. There’s no deadly flaw with Nurse right here. He’s merely making an attempt to do an excessive amount of. He’s urgent, making an attempt to drive the play as a substitute of taking part in it extra secure and making rattling sure the worst doesn’t occur.
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His danger/reward merely wants some readjusting.
If Nurse begins to perform a little much less, he’ll accomplish extra. If he merely sticks in his place, protecting his man and his territory, and ensuring no unmolested 5-alarm photographs occur on his watch, he’ll be effective.
He’s so large, quick, and expert, and his defensive approach is so stable, he’ll be capable of constantly shut down even the hardest L.A. attackers.
If he had not completed simply this prior to now, if he had not efficiently simplified his sport and put sticking to his place and shutting down the defensive slot on the high of his checklist of priorities, I might doubt him extra.
However he’s been by way of these stretches of ragged, overly aggressive play many occasions in his profession, then found out the right way to settle down and kick butt. He went by way of this identical course of a number of occasions this previous season, his finest season.
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He’s a superb guess to rapidly determine it out now.
Much less is extra.
Much less is extra.
Much less is extra.
At the very least that’s how I see it. Maybe I’m lacking one thing in my evaluation. Perhaps I’ve received some main hole in my data of hockey or of the participant. It’s totally doable.
However that’s my take. What say you?
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