Player’s Perspective: Drouin Breaks Down Game-Winning Assist (+)

There have been a handful of times this season where Jonathan Drouin has reminded everyone that he was once the third overall pick in the NHL draft. The sweet hands and the incredible vision are still there, and the Colorado Avalanche have certainly gotten their money’s worth this season, considering he’s spent a large portion of the season on the top line while making close to league minimum.

In Sunday night’s win over the Arizona Coyotes, Jonathan Drouin made a spectacular play on the game-winning goal. Instead of shooting it from the slot, he sent a quick one-touch pass to Devon Toews, who had all the time in the world to bury the winner.

I talked to Drouin this morning about the play, and what he saw. Let’s just say he was ready for the way the Coyotes wanted to defend the play.

First off, let’s take a look at the goal, and it really is a thing of beauty. Nathan MacKinnon is unstoppable behind the net, and the vision and intelligence of Drouin to immediately know what he was going to do before the puck got there is off the charts.

How did Drouin know something like this was going to work?

Because they saw it on tape prior to the game.

“There’s the pre-scout meeting (we had) where their two wingers are so tight to the middle, they kind of forget the defenseman behind them,” Drouin told me.

The 28 year old winger told me that he knew right away he wasn’t going to be shooting. Granted, Drouin is not someone who shoots the puck a whole lot, but the pre-scout meeting let the Avalanche know how the Coyotes were going to defend a play like this.

And it played out exactly like they had seen on video.

“I saw right away, when Nate made that pass, I saw (Crouse) kind of creep in, so I wouldn’t be able to get a shot off,” Drouin said. “I saw Toews right behind me, so I just tried to get a little tip to him and he made a great shot.”

So all those meetings that the Avalanche have over the course of a season to break down the other teams, they do matter. And on Sunday night, those meetings produced a game-winning goal.

Drouin has become a bit of a workhorse for the Avalanche. He’s surpassed the 20 minute mark in 14 of the last 20 games. I asked him if he’s had to change anything up with a heavier workload.

“Nope,” he said. “Yesterday was an optional skate, so I’ll try to just stickhandle and shoot. It’s not very tiring on the body. Everyone will say it’s nice to play over 20 minutes. You’re in the game, you’re always kind of going on and don’t really have time to lose that rhythm or lose that feel for the game. You’re always going.”