So the usual suspects showed up at the game last night. And by the usual suspects, I mean, shaky goaltending (Garon could have stopped *at least* half of the 4 goals he let in), bad puck management, and swiss cheese defense.
Like I mentioned in my scouting report, the Toronto Maple Leafs score a ton of goals out of 'nothing' chances. They do it through sheer hard work, puck dangling, and crisp passing. It doesn't help when you make bad turnovers and follow it up with bad defense. But that's exactly what happened when the game was tied 3-3. The Lightning just tied the game and should have had a "0-0 mentality" as coach Boucher often puts it. Make simple, smart plays.
Now as a disclaimer, it's easy for some bloke like me to sit here on my iPad and tell these guys they need to do this or that after i've watched a goal against in slow motion 8 times. I by no means want this to be a "bash the pro hockey players" blog. But again, my goal here is to break things down so that when you guys watch hockey games, you can see things "as they develop".
Anyways....like I said. 3-3 game, all tied up, Bolts have the momentum, what do you do?
Well here Marty has the puck and he has a number of options. The simplest of these options is a hard dump down red arrow for Downie (circled in green) to retrieve. He could also just carry the puck to the defender since he's giving him a decent amount of room. You also have Stamkos busting up the center as you can see the opposing center is trying to slow him down a bit. Marty will pass to Stamkos, and while it's Marty and Stammer and they can pull off most things....sometimes you want to just do the simple play. It's cliche that Detroit is the "gold standard" of puck management. But the reason they are is because they play such a meat and potatoes game and sprinkle in talent like Zetterberg and Datsyuk. The Lightning have a talented team and sprinkle in some meat and potatoes hard work. Watch a Red Wings game and count how many times Zetterberg and Datsyuk will dump the puck. Then watch a Lightning game and see how many times Marty and Stamkos dump the puck.
Now you can say this is a potential 3 on 2 since Stamkos has beat his man, but his man is RIGHT there, not to mention there is a winger back checking at full speed equal to Stammer's depth. I've seen Marty play enough to know what he is thinking here. He wants to play a give and go. Dish the puck to Stamkos in the center....Chances are both D men will converge to Stammer and Stammer can dish the puck back to Marty who's gonna skate as fast as he can down the wing. This will draw the defender back to Marty for either a) Stamkos to be open or b) Downie to be open since he will be the trailer. All sounds awesome, right?
Except Marty misses the mark on the pass. :(
Well, no big deal because Stamkos is the only one that gets caught (his nose is at the very edge of the frame). Bolts have 4 guys back and Toronto was backchecking so hard they only have one forward (guy on the near boards where the puck is going) going the other way.
Brewer ALMOST loses the foot race, but makes a great pivot and forces the puck carrier to the corner. There's a late man (circled in green, just at the edge of the frame) heading towards the slowt but Kubina, as the other defender, has the slot covered... ummm......
Yea...not sure what Kubby was thinking there. Now, it could be a systems thing, because, yes the Lightning do send 2 d men to the corner at times. If you do that, then you need to be damn sure a forward is covering the slot and as you can see, Marty is not even close. Kubina was better off staying where he was and I think he knows it.
Anyways, here's the video for you to watch. Again....turnover from Marty isn't the end of the world (tho you always hate to see them). Brewer does a good job forcing the puck carrier to the corner, and then Kubina inexplicably leaves the slot to leave the trailer...wide....open.....
So next time you watch a game, cringe whenever the Bolts turn the puck over at the offensive blue line (they do it quite often). Sure, lots of times, it's harmless. But it's a mistake nevertheless. I hope you can see by some of my past posts that the "anatomy of a goal" is often one team makes 2 or 3 small mistakes in a row. So, it's best if the team (and individuals) play in a way that eliminates as many basic mistakes as possible.
And you know what? Kubby knows he's supposed to cover the slot there, but in the heat of the moment, sometimes everything you "know" goes out the window and you forget about the trailer or you think the forwards got it, when he's a good 6 strides behind. But that's where 'hockey IQ' comes in. Everyone can have hockey IQ looking at the play frame by frame. But can you interpret the situation and make the correct decision in a split second?
FYI, from my first screen shot to the when the goal is scored is 9 seconds of game time.
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