Evan Rawal
As someone who has a fond place in his heart for high IQ defensive plays, watching Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews shut down Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson in overtime on Thursday brought me out of my chair more than Nathan MacKinnon‘s goal five seconds later.
Does that mean something is wrong with me?
Don’t say anything. I already know the answer.
Either way, at this point, I shouldn’t be surprised when Toews does something like this. We’ve seen him do it on a consistent basis since coming to Colorado.
With a light media presence at practice on Friday, Jared Bednar broke down the play from his perspective, and answered my question – Are you still blown away when Toews makes difficult plays like this against elite players look effortless?
“I’m not blown away. I think that’s what we’ve come to expect from him,” Bednar told me. “He’s one of the top defenders in the league. Great skater, great stick, instincts, just the way he angles. Not the most physical guy, but physical when he needs to be. Uses his stick really well to break up plays.”
As for what Bednar saw on the play, he went into detail.
“I think that’s textbook defending,” Bednar said. “He’s playing a partial 2-on-1 until (O’Connor) can get back there, so he takes the pass away. When OC gets back, he tightens up on Robertson, and kind of steers him into the bad area of the ice, then he pops the puck off his stick. He’s still able to jump and join the rush there if Nate wanted to use him, or if the play develops that way, then he’d have been part of the offensive attack. It’s a complete 200 foot game is what you see from him. There’s a lot of intelligence involved in that play, and his ability to defend on a nightly basis.”
Toews and the Avalanche will be right back at it on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Florida Panthers at 2 PM MST. Toews is quietly on a seven game point streak, and has racked up eight points in that timeframe.