Burnt Biscuits
Registered User
- May 2, 2010
- 9,164
- 3,179
Love Todd and I think he's a top 5 coach in the NHL, but I think he got outcoached in back-to-back games.
In Toronto he got too focused on the match-up game and trying to outsmart Babcock he messed up the flow of our lines, if we just accepted the less than ideal 1st line match-up I think we win the other match-ups just through the comparative strength of our roster. Also subtracting some skill from the first line and loading the 2nd line would likely of helped out, e.g. putting Eberle with RNH and Pouliot and then sliding someone like Pitlick up, he skates well enough to keep with McDavid's pace and while not a proven offensive threat he does help rag time off the clock in the offensive zone with his puck pressure and forecheck which is typically desirable in a match-up you don't want. Toronto was dead-set on shutting McDavid down after his prior 5 point performance, sometimes you just concede one guy leave him on an island and focus on getting the rest of the team to pick up the slack.
In NYR we constantly left a player at the side of our net uncovered, we seemed to have the 2nd D playing up to cover the slot and then the 3rd man comes in and slides to the side of the net and we weren't adjusting our coverage to pick that person up, it persisted the entirety of the game and we were always a bit to slow identifying that individual. NYR also utilized screens very heavily in their offensive zone set-ups with their big bodies and we left our best crease clearing d-man in Gryba up in the press box, I got no problem getting Benning some games, but match-up wise probably dictated defaulting towards Gryba.
In Toronto he got too focused on the match-up game and trying to outsmart Babcock he messed up the flow of our lines, if we just accepted the less than ideal 1st line match-up I think we win the other match-ups just through the comparative strength of our roster. Also subtracting some skill from the first line and loading the 2nd line would likely of helped out, e.g. putting Eberle with RNH and Pouliot and then sliding someone like Pitlick up, he skates well enough to keep with McDavid's pace and while not a proven offensive threat he does help rag time off the clock in the offensive zone with his puck pressure and forecheck which is typically desirable in a match-up you don't want. Toronto was dead-set on shutting McDavid down after his prior 5 point performance, sometimes you just concede one guy leave him on an island and focus on getting the rest of the team to pick up the slack.
In NYR we constantly left a player at the side of our net uncovered, we seemed to have the 2nd D playing up to cover the slot and then the 3rd man comes in and slides to the side of the net and we weren't adjusting our coverage to pick that person up, it persisted the entirety of the game and we were always a bit to slow identifying that individual. NYR also utilized screens very heavily in their offensive zone set-ups with their big bodies and we left our best crease clearing d-man in Gryba up in the press box, I got no problem getting Benning some games, but match-up wise probably dictated defaulting towards Gryba.
