hockey film room

On Saturday night Michigan Hockey shouldered off a dismal start, colossal refereeing shenanigans, and a generally uneven effort in the first thirty minutes to erupt and grab their most thrilling win of the season. A 5-4 come-from-behind victory over Penn State that cemented the team's first weekend sweep in the B1G, and it was powered by Luke Hughes' historic night, a four goal performance by a defenseman no less. With Brian taking the hockey column for the week, I thought I'd do something a little different: film room.

Today we're going to be looking at Hughes' Saturday night game against the Nittany Lions in a shift breakdown manner. I went back and watched every Hughes shift and collected the ones that I feel say the most about where his game is right now, including the goals yes, but also aspects of his transitional play, defensive zone play, and facilitation of the offense. With that in mind, here are his most memorable 14 shifts from Saturday night, categorized by topic: 

 

Joining the Rush

Luke Hughes' greatest asset as a hockey player is his skating ability, as is the case for both of his brothers. His place as a transitional weapon was something we talked about last year with Hughes' thrilling, Bobby Orr-like end-to-end rush goal against Ohio State, and it's remained that way into this season. But Hughes isn't just a threat in transition when he's skating with the puck; what a smooth-skating puckrusher adds to a team is the ability to join the rush easily to create odd-man opportunities for his team. A couple shifts stood out to me as encapsulating this. 

This first sequence is a classic example of defense-to-offense, even if Michigan doesn't get anything out of it:  

Penn State comes in with a 3v2 and Hughes is the defenseman closest to the intended passing target. He has his eyes on the puck carrier but also has a good feel for the location and gap of the back-side F. He extends his stick to challenge the pass and though he doesn't get a piece of it, he forces the pass to be in a position that is then behind the intended target's stick. It bounces off the PSU F's skates, Hughes picks it up, and here comes the transition opportunity: 4v3 for Michigan. Nothing comes of it once he enters the offensive zone, but Hughes' adequate defense turns defense into offense in the blink of an eye, which is what you want a defenseman in his position to be able to do. The more odd-man opportunities you create, the more goals you're going to score, even if one didn't go in here. 

Here's clip #2: 

Hughes begins the clip to the bottom of the screen

Hughes checks the Nittany Lion off the puck and it rolls to Erik Portillo behind the net, beginning the breakout. Fantilli picks it up, and sensing two Lions deep in the zone, Hughes gets on his horse and creates another 4v3. Hughes joining the rush gives Michigan the man-power advantage to gain the zone with possession and they eventually get it to him at the point. What happens? A wobbling wrist shot beats Liam Souliere between the legs for a (ugly) Michigan goal. This play encapsulates how joining the rush can create possession entries for teams and how, unlike the first play, it can wind up in the back of the net from time to time. Hughes' ability to get out of his own end and flip the switch from defense to offense bolsters his team's attack and it's a positive trait that is going to aid him in the NHL as well. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: More goals and defense]