“You have to fight through it, have to find ways to kill those penalties and not spend as much time in the box. Just got to get back to the basics. Tonight, they're making some good plays, but we were kind of out of position, too. Instead of keeping the box tight, we were spread out a little too much. That gave them some openings."--Nick Lidstrom
Spread out a little too much? On the first powerplay goal, you could throw a blanket over all four of the Wings, and every single one of them had their eyes glued to the puck instead of...ya know...looking for someone to conver, say like, Jason Arnott. The guy isn't hard to miss. Protect the front of your net by taking the body instead of trying to play the puck. I hate that.
Face-offs were a real problem last night. Helm and Abdelkader combined for six wins in over twenty attempts. That is just unacceptable. Here's what Babcock had to say about it:
"You're chasing the puck. Those are kids getting lessons on the road, that's part of the process we're in. You just keep plugging and grinding every day."
Fix it, Uncle Mike.
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteHow does 26 points get you 10th in the West but the same amount of points will give you 5th in the East? Are the West teams really beating up on the East again or is it the looser point F-ing everything up?