Quote:
Originally Posted by Love
Some of it has to do with coaching schemes. We sit back in the neutral zone and allow McDavid or whoever to catch us flatfooted as they blow by us and gain the zone. While on the other hand, they forecheck us into oblivion and force us to ice the puck and make bad passes which lead to turnovers.
GG has us trying to play a rough and tumble dump and chase game like our weak and slow forwards have a chance at retrieving the puck.
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I hate to say it, but I still see as many defensive breakdowns as there were when Hartley was coaching, and this defensive core is way more mobile and (on paper) superior defensively. They also look neutered on the offensive side of things. I thought this way through the majority of last season as well - way too many high danger chances.
You look at the Oilers with their (on paper) lousier defensive core, and they allowed less chances and less high danger chances than the Flames did last season. I am hoping that a chunk of that difference was due to the terrible start.
This team is built to be a strong defensive and a strong transitioning team. I see way too many breakdowns (tonight and for a lot of last season) as well as too much time getting hemmed in their own zone.
Execution is not there regularly enough, or the system isn't quite right (don't know which). Not to be misunderstood here - not clamoring for coaching change, but the coaches need to sit down and figure out why breakdowns are happening so often.
In what world does THAT Oilers' defence perform better than the Flames'? Even throughout last season? Something needs adjusting. The Oilers dominated the Flames defensively, and that is (for me) the most disappointing part of the loss.