On Wednesday, May 8th, 2019, Joonas Donskoi scored to put his San Jose Sharks up 3-1 over the Colorado Avalanche in game seven of the second round, an insurance goal that would eventually be the game-winner. There was just over seven minutes left in the second period of a 2-1 game, still very much up for grabs. This whole sequence comes off of what would normally be perceived to be the safe play, a term I’ve grown to hate over the last few years as I’ve subscribed to the idea that in hockey, safe is death. This is part of a larger piece I’ve yet to write (probably more of a summer off-season topic), but the premise is that over time, making the plays that are considered safe tend to result in a net-negative. Anyway, here’s what happened in this particular example:

Colorado defenseman Nikita Zadorov collects the puck in the defensive zone corner. He has time and space as his nearest forechecker, Gustav Nyquist (14), is a few strides away, while being held up by Carl Soderberg (34). He has a pass option to his D-partner, Patrik Nemeth (12), who’s a few strides away from Logan Couture (39). Now, Zadorov can either try to skate it out with Soderberg up the strong-side wall, skate it around the back of the net, pass it to his partner, or if he really has to, dump it out. All told, the Avs are in decent shape here.

Again, if you can make a play, you should, and avoid conceding possession unless you have to. Zadorov elects to try and dump the puck out in the form of a lofted flip. Logan Couture is able to snag it out of the air, and drop it onto his tape. Turnover. All of a sudden the Avs are on defense. While certainly worse than exactly two (2) seconds ago, this isn’t the end of the world. The Avalanche have guys back and are now trying to find a check.

Couture cycles it down to Nyquist, who is engaged almost immediately by Zadorov, and is finished into the boards. Gabriel Landeskog (92) has entered the zone and picks up Melker Karlsson (68) after Soderberg follows Couture up high. This signals to Soderberg that he will pick up the centre’s duties as their forward down low. That means Soderberg will pass on Couture to Nemeth, while he is now playing as a winger, covering the points.

Nyquist has cycled the puck down low, and is picking himself up off the ice after Zadorov rode him hard into the boards. Nyquist gets up and goes to the bench. Karlsson collects the puck in the corner, and Landeskog is engaging him immediately. Nemeth guards the front of the net, as he doesn’t want to abandon his post for Couture just yet. The weakside winger, Gabriel Bourque (57), occupies space in the high slot while Soderberg takes the defenseman out of frame.

The puck eventually works its way around to Brent Burns (88), who holds the line at the left point. Burns surveys his options before the puck gets to him. From Colorado’s perspective, they have Nemeth in the corner staying inside Couture, who’s out of frame; and Gabriel Bourque challenging Burns. Here’s where it gets tricky – Landeskog has stuck with Couture; Soderberg has Vlasic; but Nikita Zadorov, who hasn’t had a great shift so far, hasn’t picked up Joonas Donskoi (27, top right) off the bench. Donskoi has just come on for Gustav Nyquist. Here, Zadorov and Landeskog both think Karlsson is their guy. This ultimately comes down to coaching: do the Avs want their weakside D to always cover the front of the net? Or should the centre stay with his guy when he enters that ice and the D stick with the other forward? Again, this is all because Nyquist changed and was forgotten.

Burns makes an unbelievable read and banks a pass off the corner boards for Donskoi to skate onto. Landeskog recognizes he’s the closest to the puck, and he passes off Karlsson to Zadorov, for real this time.

As it turned out, that extra second it took for Zadorov and Landeskog to figure out their coverage bought Donskoi enough time to build speed and beat his check around the back of the net, with him getting a good shot off low-blocker that beats Philipp Grubauer.

Nyquist changing after getting hammered by Zadorov allowed the defense to forget about him momentarily. His replacement was therefore able to come in with a little speed and get open, before using that extra step on his check to create a quality scoring chance. The chance was successful, and ended up being the game-winner for the Sharks.