Kid is struggling, but it's not glaring, not to me anyways.
his biggest gaffe last night was the turnover that lead to the 2nd STL goal. that was just awful. i was cussing him up also and pissed.
not singling you out KF, just wanted to call to attention a specific situation compared to all of our observations.
yes he is struggling, but we knew it was to be expected. DS is making due with what he has available to him. let's not forget that we also had struggles last spring with VV and AMart as they cut their teeth in the PO's. everyone learns at different speeds.
the speed and intensity of the playoffs ratchets up over the season. add to this STL's relentless up ice pressure and the kid is learning under very heavy pressure
Muzz, Ellerby, (insert next whipping boy here) aren't the sole reason for the amount of turnovers. how LA is playing out of their own zone has more to do with it. all of the guys are having this issue, not just Muzzerby
as a 5 man unit LA hasn't been as strong as STL has been through most of the series. the Blues are often times out hustling LA and they are maintaining 5 man gap coverage better than LA. the Kings have essentially reverted back into a shell because of this and made it easier for the Blues. LA continues to use the same two plays to exit the zone, STL as a result have tightened coverage and moved the 5 man coverage tighter up ice. LA is either up the line, or the pass to the curling C. STL has two forwards choking down these lanes. they are essentially smothering LA from the dots to the blue line. LA has to make re-directions and trust one another to make the backside pass to the weakside forward, not all the time but enough to get the Blues guessing. they need to stretch STL and not allow them to collapse the way they have.
