12 games to go, and a cup title to defend.
As a little off-day game, let’s list the one thing each Blues player needs to focus on/improve upon going into the postseason.
Rules: Each poster can only pick one player, and you can’t repeat a player that’s already been picked. You can do an offensive and defensive ‘one thing’ if you choose. I’ll start!
Justin Faulk
The one thing I want to see Justin Faulk focus on, offensively, is: channel your inner Bouwmeester with your shot selection.
Too often, Faulk’s popping his shot directly into the goalies crest for an easy freeze, or a defender is stepping in up top and easily deflecting or blocking it. Instead of going for the goal, do what JayBo did basically all the time — shoot low for the pad-save rebound or, more often, shoot off-goal to a teammate’s stick. With the defender(s) lined up even with the goal, he can start getting more pucks deep to high-scoring areas and skill players.
The one thing I want to see Justin Faulk focus on, defensively, is: watch your hands on skaters entering the D-zone.
I’ve been noticing a lot lately that Faulk gets very pushy-grabby with his hands when he’s one-on-one with skaters entering the zone, especially if they’ve got an edge on him. To his credit, he rarely does enough of it to qualify for interference, but in the Playoffs, I already see it coming (one team complains about it, it becomes a story, refs start calling more interference, Berube protests, fans call us no-goodnicks/cheap/whiners...
); add in that he’ll consistently be playing against the fastest/most skilled forwards and the little grabs and shoves become even more noticeable.
As a little off-day game, let’s list the one thing each Blues player needs to focus on/improve upon going into the postseason.
Rules: Each poster can only pick one player, and you can’t repeat a player that’s already been picked. You can do an offensive and defensive ‘one thing’ if you choose. I’ll start!
Justin Faulk
The one thing I want to see Justin Faulk focus on, offensively, is: channel your inner Bouwmeester with your shot selection.
Too often, Faulk’s popping his shot directly into the goalies crest for an easy freeze, or a defender is stepping in up top and easily deflecting or blocking it. Instead of going for the goal, do what JayBo did basically all the time — shoot low for the pad-save rebound or, more often, shoot off-goal to a teammate’s stick. With the defender(s) lined up even with the goal, he can start getting more pucks deep to high-scoring areas and skill players.
The one thing I want to see Justin Faulk focus on, defensively, is: watch your hands on skaters entering the D-zone.
I’ve been noticing a lot lately that Faulk gets very pushy-grabby with his hands when he’s one-on-one with skaters entering the zone, especially if they’ve got an edge on him. To his credit, he rarely does enough of it to qualify for interference, but in the Playoffs, I already see it coming (one team complains about it, it becomes a story, refs start calling more interference, Berube protests, fans call us no-goodnicks/cheap/whiners...
); add in that he’ll consistently be playing against the fastest/most skilled forwards and the little grabs and shoves become even more noticeable.
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