Boom Boom Apathy
I am the Professor. Deal with it!
- Sep 6, 2006
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So I watched Toronto last night, who started with 5 forwards on the PP. While the 2nd unit scored one of the PP goals on a simpler play (shoot from the point and put home the rebound) and the first unit scored one and gave up a shorty, I was more looking at how they "generally" operated. They also removed Bunting and put Rielly on the 1st unit for the goal they scored.
Generally, how they operated was that Tavares was basically the only guy not moving much. He planted himself in front of the net and drifted back and forth as the puck moved around. Matthews was "kinda" in the bumper spot, but he moved a lot trying to find any open ice to get his shot off. He usually didn't really move that far, mainly moving side to side to fill in when one of the guys on the halfway moved to another location. Basically, he went from the Ovi spot on one side, back to the center, back to the "Ovi" spot on the other side.
When Bunting was out there, he stayed predominately below the goal line, but when Rielly was out there, he played up top but was moving constantly in a conjunction with Marner and Nylander. Those 3 were in constant motion with the puck and without it.
To me, it seemed the motion was designed to open up space for Matthews to find a soft spot and then get him the puck. More than a few times I saw him give it to either Nylander or Marner where they'd skate it away from an area only to pass it back to Matthews when he vacated the area. Tavares was then in front to clean up anything.
Now, those 5 (Marner, Matthews, Nylander, Tavares, and Rielly) are insanely skilled and whether we want to admit it or not, more skilled than any 5 Carolina can put on the ice. Secondly, we don't have anyone that shoots as well as Matthews. So what works for Toronto may not work for us, but was just putting this out there as what I saw last night.
Generally, how they operated was that Tavares was basically the only guy not moving much. He planted himself in front of the net and drifted back and forth as the puck moved around. Matthews was "kinda" in the bumper spot, but he moved a lot trying to find any open ice to get his shot off. He usually didn't really move that far, mainly moving side to side to fill in when one of the guys on the halfway moved to another location. Basically, he went from the Ovi spot on one side, back to the center, back to the "Ovi" spot on the other side.
When Bunting was out there, he stayed predominately below the goal line, but when Rielly was out there, he played up top but was moving constantly in a conjunction with Marner and Nylander. Those 3 were in constant motion with the puck and without it.
To me, it seemed the motion was designed to open up space for Matthews to find a soft spot and then get him the puck. More than a few times I saw him give it to either Nylander or Marner where they'd skate it away from an area only to pass it back to Matthews when he vacated the area. Tavares was then in front to clean up anything.
Now, those 5 (Marner, Matthews, Nylander, Tavares, and Rielly) are insanely skilled and whether we want to admit it or not, more skilled than any 5 Carolina can put on the ice. Secondly, we don't have anyone that shoots as well as Matthews. So what works for Toronto may not work for us, but was just putting this out there as what I saw last night.
