Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
One thing became clear to me watching them play last night.
In the past they've been able to attack quickly because they won the puck back quickly. What I think some people don't realize from watching the games on TV and not live is that after we've spent 45 seconds defending in our zone you can't actually attack quickly because the forwards are exhausted and they need a complete line change. That's why the D slow it down and go D to D and piddle around. They're killing time for the entire forward line to change. It's quite obvious when you're there live because you see the line changes much more easily as your entire field of vision is the ice. Watching on TV really masks half the stuff going on.
So in this case being better defensively and winning the puck back earlier in the shift or winning the face-off leads to fast attacking options. Spend a whole shift pinned in our zone? We can't fast attack because we have to line change first.
I think some people really underestimate this aspect.
|
Sometimes yes and sometimes no.
The D to D garbage isn’t isolated to when they have been hemmed in for a long shift.
Heck, even when it is, I saw Bennett a couple of games ago hop on the ice, skate back and run a route between the D and begin to head up ice to give them a moving target, they passed amongst themselves, he held up at the blue line, then they dumped it in once he stopped moving, and had no speed to get behind the D.
PS. You are funny. It appears that you think nobody here actually goes to games. If that is what you think, you are quite incorrect.