Canucks Scouting Report

Bolts host the Canucks tonight.  Time is starting to run out on the Lightning if they want to even be relevant in the playoff discussion this year, but they face a pretty tough foe tonight.  The Canucks did play last night, a loss against the Florida Panthers.  If we're lucky the travel, plus being the 2nd of a back to back plays into our favor.

For the Canucks, obviously, the big line is H. Sedin, D. Sedin, Burrows, but they really bring a full 2 (2.5 depending on how you look at things) lines that can score.  The group of forwards are good at cycling, creating space by passing, and their movement away from the puck is extremely strong.  It's one of the best passing teams I've seen.  They will perfectly execute a ton of drop passes to create space (see my write up on the game against the Canadiens to see what I'm talking about) and pull off crazy east/west passes as well.  They can score every way.  Off the rush, shots from the points with screens, or just grinding away and getting pucks to the net with traffic (which their bottom 2 lines will typically do).

Rush coverage will be huge, similar to when the Lightning played the Flyers.  And gap control against the rush will be paramount.  Extremely important to get sticks on pucks against the rush to take away time for the opposing forwards creativity.  

The Canucks definitely are *not* a dump and chase team, which is really the best tactic against the Lightning's 1-3-1, so it will be interesting to see if they change up their offense at all for this game.

Their goaltending is strong, but their D is so so.  They are slow footed (like the Lightning), so they can be beat with sheer speed.  And number 23 on defense, Edler...while a great d man, is definitely weak along the boards.  If he is on the ice, I would get the puck past the red line, make him turn his back and hit him, because he *will* give up the puck that way.

Maple Leafs Scouting Report

Watching the Maples Leafs highlights from December was interesting. There really doesn't seem to be much of a pattern of how they generate goals. I did see a few point shots with traffic in front, but there isn't a single NHL team that won't score a goal like that once in a while.

The oddest thing I noticed while watching Toronto is that their forwards have an uncanny ability of making something out of nothing. As a collective group, they are a highly skilled bunch. A lot of their goals and scoring chances come off of dangles, improbable passes and sheer determination. The Bolts will have to expect these guys to deke and dangle. Gap control and strong body positioning will be paramount for the Bolts D tonight and defensive zone coverage will be important as well. Like I said, the Leafs make some of the most improbable passes and a lot of them are east-west passes to a late trailer.

This is a team just a few points ahead of the Bolts that are also fighting for their lives to stay relevant post All-Star break. They haven't played too well lately, winning just 3 of their last 10, but 2 of those other 7 were lost in the OT/SO and they were definitely in the game for their 5 regulation loses (losing by either a goal or a goal + last minute empty netter).

Hurricanes Scouting Report

Here is an unedited version of my scouting report on the Hurricanes.  I got a little sick this weekend, so I didn't get a chance to take these notes and turn it into a blog post proper, but since I took the time to write these notes down, I suppose I might as well post it.  The first Hurricanes PP goal came off of a good screen from a fwd who got behind the Lightning D.  And I tweeted that the Hurricanes played a crap game.  A large part of their identity is a strong forecheck and they totally failed at it.

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They are very good at getting good position in front of the net.  They will force themselves behind the D to be in a good position for a rebound.  Important not to leave the D zone too quickly, because they will have one forward stay in front of the net and if their D holds the puck up at their offensive blue line that forward will be wide open if our D starts flying out of the zone prematurely.  The fwds actually float in the slot if the puck is down low to try to set up a shot to a forward in the slot.  However, if the puck moves back to the point, the forwards will then quickly try to get behind the defense for a rebound.

Hard forechecking team, will send all 3 forwards to the boards in one corner to dig the puck out.  Extremely fast transition team.  If the Bolts turn the puck over they will rush up the ice very quickly.  

Canadiens scouting report

Next up for the Tampa Bay Lightning are the Montreal Canadiens.  While watching the past month of highlights for the Canadiens, it was eerily similar to watching the Lightning. This team is very weak around their own net.  They play the puck, not the man (similar to the bolts).  Their D also seem to get caught at the offensive blue line quite often too.  If you get this D to play along the boards and take away their time and space, they will cough off the puck.

Not much offense I've seen so far.  They like to break out quickly (also like the bolts) and try to apply pressure.  But like the Lightning, their forecheck is easily beaten. All of their offense or at least a good portion of it is generated on the power play or by defensive mistakes by the other team. They get a lot of chances off puck mismanagement from the opposition. Their only big offensive game was their last game against the Senators (also their first win under their new interim head coach). Poor Ottawa goaltending had something to do with it, but the Canadiens did generate a number of goals off 3 on 2 opprotunities.  The Lightning are pretty good about limiting odd man rushes, so I don't foresee this to be a big problem.

The key for the Lightning will be to get pucks deep (past the opposing teams goal line) and make their D turn their backs and finish their checks.  The Canadiens will cough up pucks if this is done well.  To keep the Montreal offense at bay, the bolts will have to stay disciplined as the majority of goals and scoring chances for the Canadiens are coming off the power play.  Other than that, just defend the neutral zone well because Montreal will look for those long stretch passes to get a break.  Lastly, puck management is key.  Montreal's offense is based off of mistakes made by the opposition.  If the Lightning manage the puck well and keep the pressure on the Canadiens D, I don't see Montreal generating too much offense based on their performance for the past month.