Quote:
Originally Posted by taxbuster
Structure, in a single word.
Peters' team was decent and played well...but it had neither the balance nor the structured play of the Flames under Sutter. I remember watching LA when they won Cups...each guy protected/covered/supported each other, skated directly at opponents to intercept them and played a relentless checking game, no matter where on the ice they were. That's what I'm seeing here.
Good grief -- Johnny making hits and playing pretty damn good defensive hockey? This looks to me like a team that is "fully bought it". Hope they can stay the course.
I was lying in bed last night thinking about my car flags....(I'll be all alone here in the middle of Everywhere, BC though).
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One of the things I feel is different is that the 2019 Peters team was invested heavily on one line tearing it up, and Gio being a Norris beast. While there may have been defined roles, there never appeared to be a commitment to defense across all 200' of ice, and once the top line wasn't top anymore in the playoffs, things went how one can expect. It's exactly why McDrai hasn't been hoisting a cup year after year, or any team that has hasn't gotten there completely on the backs of one line. If the other team can key in on one or two players and it nullifies your game, you wont have success. What Darryl is doing here is holding the team responsible for the whole game, and so far the team is buying in and staying committed. Hence why we aren't needing our top line to win every game for us, and we have so much scoring spread out across the gamesheet.