WASHINGTON — A younger, less confident version of Miles Wood might have immediately done what he’s been known to do his entire career: attack, with speed, in mostly straight lines.
Wood had the puck last week near the New Jersey blue line, in the building he called home for seven seasons, with a rookie defenseman in front of him. Attacking Devils defenseman Simon Nemec, and potentially creating some chaos, wouldn’t have been a bad option.
But Wood slowed down instead of speeding up. He surveyed the developing situation, watched Nemec’s defense partner make a tactical mistake and slipped a cross-ice pass to Nathan MacKinnon, who came off the bench during a line change and was suddenly in alone on the goaltender with a Grade-A scoring opportunity.