Quote:
Originally Posted by delayedreflex
Agree - in yesterday's game, it was absurd how much room the Avs had on the numerous 3 on 2's that they had entering the zone. I think this can be partially explained by the D backing off more so that they wouldn't get burned wide by MacKinnon on the outside like they did in previous games, but this gave the Avs way more room to pass it around once they entered the offensive zone. Calgary's forwards need to be way more engaged on the backcheck to take away that space.
From what I saw, it was not only Colorado breaking up the N-S passing from Calgary, but the E-W pass attempts by Calgary (predominantly Johnny) that occurred shortly after Calgary gained the zone. There were at least a half dozen times where Johnny would gain the blue line, button hook back and look for the pass across the ice, but Colorado would intercept and then they would be on an odd man rush with speed in the other direction. No doubt, tighter execution would allow Gaudreau to thread a few passes through like he did often in the regular season - but every miss is going to be costly. I wonder if it would be better if he carried the puck in deeper out wide before looking for a pass - I guess the trouble is that he isn't fast enough to outrun the D consistently enough to prevent getting rubbed out on the boards. Carrying the puck up through the middle hasn't worked well for him either as he kept trying to fight his way through 3 or 4 defenders and getting stripped of the puck. Lindholm has proven tenacious in the past in digging out pucks along the boards - he needs to get back to his earlier season form on that so that it's not all on Johnny to manage possession in the offensive zone.
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This is what the Flames do and how Johnny produces. He plays an East West game, passes through the Royal Road etc.
There are many reasons it's not working now I suspect, but this is his game. It didn't work so well against Anaheim in 2017 either.