Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
Yeah, the Russians perfected the five man attack strategy. If anything, they were counter to the transition game and probably what Ward is trying to rely upon. The problem is that when the five man attack was en vogue was when defenses were scattered and weak and gap control was easily exploited. Now that defenses have caught up the five man attack strategy is a dinosaur. The way you beat these new defensive strategies is to use speed and transition and NOT give them opportunity to setup. This ain't rocket science, but to Ward and company it appears to be. Continue to press the puck forward and get to the open spaces before the defense has an opportunity to get back and clog them up.
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I agree with you about what the Russians did. And I agree the Flames are much too slow in moving up ice, whether by design or just because they don't execute quickly.
But the poster was saying the Flames should play
more like the Russians and the 70s Habs. And saying the Russian D move the puck up ice quickly without allowing a setup.
Frankly, the 70s Habs (which were my team at the time) were a mix. One strategy was to give the puck to Lafleur who would speed up the wing and score on a slapper. Or hand it to Cornoyer and see if he could stickhandle through guys. The other lines were a real mix - you had some premier grinders and muckers in there. Jarvis, Lambert, etc.
I think pretty much any strategy works if you commit to it and tinker to meet team's makeup. Whatever it is, it needs to be executed quickly. Vegas isn't a super fast team, but they move quickly after they gain possession - it's ingrained to turn and go. Toronto as well. It's a large unit (dunno about 5 man) but they tend to take what's given.