Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoller
He likes to dump and chase... A lot
"When we've been at our best we put the puck behind teams and establish a forecheck"
"You can't always carry it in... You gotta put it in behind people... If you're trying to pull up and delay and you're 5 feet inside the blue line and you turn it over there, it's the kiss of death"
This last quote seems like it's directed at Johnny. Gone are the days of Gaudreau carrying the puck into the offensive zone and stopping just inside the blue line, often using the button hook. Gaudreau has had some success using this move in the past, but we've also seen it backfire. Personally, I think Johnny looks best when he's got linemates who are driving the net and backing off defenders, allowing Johnny to cut to the middle of the ice and either put the puck on net or connect with a pass to the trailer.
Now we're seeing Gaudreau dump the puck in and Monahan or Lindholm give chase. Monahan doesn't have the best puck retrieval skills. Lindholm will have to pick up the slack here if this is going to be our main forecheck strategy.
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I don’t know about that.
Gaudreau did the stop up and stick handle just inside he blueline thing a ton tonight,
What I did notice though is that they seemed to making much better decisions on when to do that, vs when to dump the puck in which is amazing.
This team was a little too predictable at times last year and I like that they seem to have more of a plan on zone entries this year.