In the NHL, it ranks as welcome news up there with the invention of refrigeration. The Devils, repeat, the Devils, have busted the trap.
Majestic, beautiful and elegant, the solution to that boring but effective defense has been discovered by the very team that made its bad reputation by it. Now it’s up to the copycat trapping Candy ‘Canes to figure out how to beat New Jersey’s Moving Wall breakout, a strategy that promises nothing less than making that trap obsolete.
“What, our Flying Wedge?” Brian Rafalski asked.
“What, their Four Across?” a pre-playoff scout asked.
Roger Neilson, the man who made the trap his own, has been working since October at trying defuse this utter antithesis to the Devils’ reputation as conservatives. Each potential playoff foe had it at the top of its list of Devil Issues, right there with Martin Brodeur.
“I haven’t seen it before and I’m amazed at how effective it is,” Joe Nieuwendyk said. “It seems so simple, but it really forces opponents to commit.”
It is a marvel of symmetry and choreography. As a Devil defenseman settles with the puck behind their net and opponents prepare their trap with the one-man forecheck that is its signal, all four other Devils come back nearly to their own goal line, lining up straight across the width of the rink. That defenseman emerges, usually to the left of Brodeur’s net, and heads directly at the on-coming forechecker. The rest of his teammates gauge their start with him and form a line five-across moving up ice.
When the forechecker commits, the defenseman makes a short pass to either teammate nearest, past that forechecker, then drops back as free safety while the other four gather speed, a Charge of the Light Brigade. When the next forechecker steps up attempting to steer the puck carrier toward the trap, another short pass to either nearest teammate leaves a second foe himself trapped.
By then, there’s panic on the opposition backline, particularly on the far side where the defenseman has moved up to form the trap. The line of three is flying and that far wing is ready to break past the now-betrayed defenseman. Touchdown, if only these Devils could finish.
“It’s the best way to break a trap,” Bobby Holik said. “We’re coming up slow right now, but if everyone comes up a little faster it would work even better. It’s based on bringing up your speed as you come up the ice.”
When they start lining across their zone, it’s building like a breaker on the beach. A few seconds later it’s done and some havoc has usually been wreaked.
It began as a suggestion by Slava Fetisov to Larry Robinson last season and was utilized a few times. When Kevin Constantine (20-8-2-1) arrived, he liked the play since it comes out of his forwards coming all the way back. Now they have made a regular feature of it, a few times a night.
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DEVILS VS. HURRICANES
GAME 1: Wednesday Devils at Hurricanes 7 p.m.
GAME 2: Friday Devils at Hurricanes 7 p.m.
GAME 3: Sunday Hurricanes at Devils 3 p.m.
GAME 4: April 23 Hurricanes at Devils 7 p.m.
GAME 5*: April 24 Devils at Hurricanes 7 p.m.
GAME 6*: April 27 Hurricanes at Devils 1 p.m.
GAME 7*: April 29 Devils at Hurricanes 7 p.m.
* If necessary; TV: TBA