"A lot of people think playing fast means skating fast, but a lot of the time it's puck-moving that helps you to play quick," said captain Mark Giordano. "It's definitely a mindset, that you're playing to play quick and move the puck quick, especially as defencemen. But the forwards, too, being available for passes and chip-ins.
"It all plays into it."
Under Head Coach Darryl Sutter, quickness is a priority.
And if the first two games under the new boss are any indication, that fresh mentality already paid dividends, with speed in many forms leading to almost all of their offence in a pair of victories over the Montreal Canadiens.
Whether it's attacking on the forecheck, like Sean Monahan and Brett Ritchie did, leading to No. 23's 200th career-tally, or how Mangiapane chased down a loose puck, winning a 50/50 puck battle, and fed Mikael Backlund for a critical insurance marker on Saturday, this is what Sutter Hockey is all about.
"It's about moving the puck fast, getting into position fast, receiving it and making the next play," the skipper said, using those two examples to illustrate his point.
Even the Backlund goal, there was no magic to the breakout. Milan Lucic got possession and moved the puck north with a swift aerial feed. Anticipating that, Mangiapane got himself into position, tracked down the pop fly and put the Habs on their heels.
From there, it was all effort.
"The top teams in the league play with that format in place," Sutter said. "So, that's a good lesson there.
"I think with the skill-set of this group, especially with our defence being able to skate and move pucks, it makes that (area of the game) important.
"It's all got to be cohesive. It's not just about skating fast - you have to be in the right position to make that next play."