I've come to realize my issues with him handling the puck aren't with handling the puck itself - he has actually improved significantly in that department and can move/handle/manage the puck fairly well. What he can't do (yet), though, is manage the flow of the game when he has the opportunity to.
Ben is very adept at picking up what defenders are doing on the opposing blueline and catching people in line changes, as well as knowing how to hit people in stride, and keeping play moving. If you look back over the last few games with Vasi (and I don't have the numbers in front of me) it feels like he freezes the puck a lot more than Ben and avoids keeping the play moving.
Even after being out a month, you saw Ben on a few occasions catch Buffalo changing and would hit Vladdy/Killer up on the opposing side and force Buffalo back into the D zone. Vasi at this point just waits for a defender or two to drop to the goal line and hope to dump it off. In doing that, we're already pinned in our zone, you're having to drop all your forwards back into the D zone to cover up, and it disrupts the game a bit.
I need to round up some video and take notes.
Ben just reads plays better. Vasy might actually be better at stopping pucks, but Ben is like a general.
I think Ben actually covers a lot more pucks than Vasy (Vasy covered a ton of them in the Pens game though, in the 3rd period at least). But he does it when he doesn't have room to make a play. Sometimes, like last game, you'll see him actually jump out of his crease to freeze a puck when he feels like our defenders are in trouble.
Up until the last game or two, Vasy was only covering one, maybe two pucks a period. With Bishop, the second he doesn't like what he's seeing, he errs on the side of caution and gets a whistle. I think it's the most underrated part of his game.
Mainly, Bishop is as predictable to our defenders as he is unpredictable to the opponent. We just play a more settled game in front of him, which leads to wins when he's actually stopping pucks.
Last edited: