Quote:
Originally Posted by browna
Fully agree. Though on McKinnons missed shot on the first shift he was back and prevented a 2 on 1 and McKinnon slow getting back almost had Hughes score that shift.
Again, when Makar went for the blue line pinch McDavid had to hold up in case Makar did intercept the pass.
Would have to see iso video of th full back check but Hughes would’ve been skating full speed. That said I would presume it wasn’t a disconnect controller type effort from McDavid, and any way you slice it, he is behind Makar and McKinnon if we are playing the blame game for that sequence.
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If you excuse McDavid holding up then I don't think you can fault Makar for the pinch (it was a loose rolling puck afterall). There were multiple decision points in the play, and IMO McDavid chose poorly 4 times:
1. The rush. McDavid spun up with both teammates skating the wrong direction on Canada's side of the red line. By the time McDavid enters the offensive zone his teammates are still on the wrong side of the red line. The reason the seas parted for Marner last time is that he had pass options on both sides.
2. There is a moment where Werenski, Larkin, and McDavid are all below the goal line and Werenski has free possession of the puck in the corner. McDavid could turn back and shadow Larkin, but he chooses to skate towards the corner. Werenski seemed to be planning to slow it down, but McDavid's line forced him forwards and he bobbled the backhand pass. (so not a bad outcome but it meant 3 Americans moving forward and 2 Canadians in limbo)
- Makar pinch is a debatable decision.
3. The slight hold up hoping Makar wins the pinch. Again he could shadow Werenski or even just skated towards the puck (a likely outcome would have been more of a loose puck between Makar/Larkin) to prioritize regaining possession/better position for backcheck. Instead he hopes Makar makes the perfect play.
Of course the outcome is Werenski and Larkin chasing the loose puck with more speed and than McDavid; the two Americans are nearly across the centre line before McDavid crosses the blue line.
- so now MacKinnon defending the 3 on 1 has to decide between going hard for the loose puck or defending the trailer(s). He goes for the puck but I think there's a slight hesitation knowing he can't give up a cross ice pass (him being less than 100% can't help either). He should have been better here, but he did enough to slow things up that things may have been okay if not for decisions #2, 3, and 4 by McDavid:
4. At first it looks like Larkin is the threat as Werenski/MacKinnon contest the puck. McDavid way too far back to do anything about Larkin, but McDavid has stopped skating as he crosses the blue line and isn't even carrying a ton of speed (before this he was out of frame but it didn't look he was skating very hard as he left the frame).
Larkin chases the contested puck, and so does McDavid despite being 15 feet behind and there being no real threat of a good shot from where the puck is. There is a moment where it looks like things will be kinda okay - likely Larkin getting the puck facing the corner well below the dot. The only threat would be a blind backhand pass to Hughes. McDavid floats in limbo instead of covering Hughes (which also would have made sense to get Makar back lower)
As it turns out Werenski gets the puck on his forehand and can make the pass easily. McDavid ends up inside the wrong faceoff circle while Hughes gets the puck on the other's hashmark. Game, blouses.
So it's lots of subtle little choices. None of it happens with #1. If McDavid stays with Werenski on #3 then Werenski isn't coming out of that battle with the puck on his forehand. But IMO #2 was actually the worst decision even though it kinda worked. There is a moment there where McDavid was effectively in front of both American players as Werenski gained clean possession, but he gave that up and then chased the rest of the play.